Tensions Erupt as Four West Bengal BJP MLAs Suspended from Assembly
Speaker Biman Banerjee’s move sparks protest, BJP calls it “undemocratic silencing” as Assembly descends into theatre
Kolkata, June 23: The suspension of four BJP MLAs from the West Bengal Legislative Assembly on Monday was not just a procedural reprimand — it was the latest battle in a bruising, drawn-out war for narrative control in a state that thrives on high-stakes political theatre.
The Suspension Was The Message
By ejecting Dipak Burman, Shankar Ghosh, Agnimitra Paul, and Manoj Oraon for the rest of the session, Speaker Biman Banerjee didn’t just enforce decorum — he signaled to the BJP that disruption would be met with swift, unapologetic consequences. The immediate cause? The four MLAs reportedly raised slogans and protested during a session that involved the expungement of past remarks — a bureaucratic tool that has now become the flashpoint for accusations of authoritarianism.
The BJP, already embattled in the Bengal Assembly where it lacks numerical strength, has seized on such procedural moments to underscore what it calls the “systematic silencing of dissent.” Whether one sees this as principled defiance or political performance, the pattern is undeniable: the Assembly floor is no longer just a space for debate — it’s a stage for combat.
A Party Cornered Finds Its Theatre
What’s telling is not that the BJP staged a protest — that’s politics as usual. It’s that they chose to protest outside the Assembly, in full view of cameras and press, even as the House continued without them. Agnimitra Paul, herself no stranger to public confrontation, accused the TMC of running the Assembly “like a private club.” Shankar Ghosh was blunter: “We are being gagged.”
But such statements, while emotive, reflect a deeper truth: the BJP in Bengal is operating from a place of reactive politics. Since its Lok Sabha surge in 2019 and near-miss in the 2021 Assembly election, the party has struggled to maintain momentum in the face of an entrenched TMC machine. Procedural flashpoints like Monday’s suspension offer rare, high-visibility opportunities to reset the narrative.
That said, the TMC isn’t playing innocent either.
Control Over the Record Is Control Over the Past
At the heart of this controversy lies the expunging of past Assembly remarks — an act that in any legislature should be technical and uncontroversial. But in Bengal, nothing involving memory and record-keeping is apolitical.
The BJP claims that the Speaker is sanitising the House records, particularly targeting statements made by Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, who has become the party’s principal disruptor-in-chief. While expungement is allowed under Assembly rules, the BJP argues it’s being used selectively — effectively erasing critical voices from the official memory of governance.
If that’s true, it’s a shrewd move. Because in Bengal politics — as in all politics — who gets remembered, and how, often matters more than what was actually said.
What The TMC Gains By Playing Tough
For Mamata Banerjee’s government, the stakes are not merely about House discipline. With national elections concluded and 2026 approaching, the TMC is consolidating its narrative: it is the stable, development-focused regime being harassed by a noisy, obstructionist opposition.
Senior TMC leaders have dismissed the BJP protest as “a scripted drama.” One Trinamool functionary, speaking off the record, summed it up bluntly: “They can’t legislate, so they create scenes.”
But even for the TMC, this sort of procedural aggression carries risk. The optics of suspending elected representatives, no matter how justified on paper, feeds into the BJP’s claims of authoritarian overreach. That might not matter to TMC loyalists, but it resonates in a state that has a long memory of political suppression — from the Left Front’s decades-long clampdowns to the present-day accusations of selective justice.
A Legislature Frozen in Gesture Politics
What Monday’s incident lays bare is this: West Bengal’s Assembly has stopped functioning as a deliberative body. It’s become a theatre of proxy wars — with the TMC defending institutional authority and the BJP baiting them into overreaction. Meanwhile, the space for nuanced policy debate is collapsing under the weight of manufactured spectacle.
And that may suit both parties. In an age where virality matters more than bills passed, these disruptions serve a dual purpose: BJP MLAs get their headlines; the TMC reasserts its dominance.
No official word has emerged on whether the suspensions could stretch beyond this session, nor has the BJP indicated whether it will escalate the matter to the Governor or the courts. But if history is any guide, the real battle isn’t legal — it’s psychological. The TMC wants to project invincibility. The BJP wants to project resistance.
Neither side is bluffing.
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Amit Singh is a Reporting Fellow at Hindustan Herald, where he covers the intricate dynamics of Indian politics and global geopolitical shifts. Currently pursuing his studies at Delhi University, Amit brings a keen analytical mind and a passion for factual reporting to his daily coverage, providing readers with well-researched insights into the forces shaping national and international affairs.
- Amit Singhhttps://hindustanherald.com/authors/amit_s/
- Amit Singhhttps://hindustanherald.com/authors/amit_s/
- Amit Singhhttps://hindustanherald.com/authors/amit_s/
- Amit Singhhttps://hindustanherald.com/authors/amit_s/
