Lok Sabha members of the Trinamool Congress and the BJP Tuesday clashed over the Railway Budget, leading to repeated adjournments in the house, as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee termed it "unfortunate" and "undemocratic".The row started as soon as the Lok Sabha met after lunch at 2 p.m. following the presentation of the Railway Budget.As soon as the house met for a scheduled discussion on price rise, Trinamool MPs trooped near the speaker's podium and started shouting slogans against the Railway Budget. The members raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.They said the budget ignored West Bengal and should be taken back.
Soon, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members shouted slogans from their seats to counter the Trinamool members' loud sloganeering.Congress deputy chief in the Lok Sabha Amarinder Singh made efforts to speak on price rise, but was unable to continue.Amid the din, some BJP members said something to the protesting Trinamool leaders, which was not clear over the din, and soon ministers, including Prakash Javadekar and Kalraj Mishra, rushed to intervene to stop the exchanges.The house was adjourned for an hour following this.Following the adjournment, all Trinamool members trooped out of the house, alleging physical and verbal attacks from the BJP.
Trinamool MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar claimed that a BJP MP "threatened and abused Trinamool members who were protesting peacefully".She also alleged that an attacker pulled at her saree in the Lok Sabha when all of them were protesting the "injustice" done to the state in the Railway Budget.She alleged that a drunk BJP parliamentarian threatened and verbally abused her.Her version was corroborated by Trinamool Lok Sabha members Kalyan Banerjee and Satabdi Roy."We were peacefully protesting inside the Lok Sabha, one drunk BJP MP along with others came and threatened and abused us," Ghosh Dastidar told reporters outside the Parliament House.When the house re-assembled, party MP Saugata Roy said some BJP MPs "threatened to strip and beat up our MPs".Following continued ruckus, the speaker adjourned the house for the day. Due to the ruckus, the afternoon session of the house was lost to adjournments.In Kolkata, Trinamool chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also took up her MPs' cause.
She claimed "indecent comments" were made against her and Trinamool MPs, and alleged that an attacker pulled at Ghosh Dastidar's saree when they were protesting the "injustice" done to Bengal in the railway budget."Indecent language was used against me. Bad language was used against my women MPs. My women MPs faced misbehaviour," Mamata Banerjee told media persons."Whatever happened is very dirty. They (Trinamool MPs) are all shocked. I will speak to my party," she said.A visibly angry Mamata Banerjee said "dirty abuses" were hurled against her party MPs."The language used against our MPs was unparliamentary. This is not democracy. I am disgusted."She said some of her MPs have been elected for the first time and were very young."If they get such a jolt at the very outset of their parliamentary career, that's not good. Everybody can seek justice in parliament."
"I have the right to seek justice for Bengal. Similarly, MPs from Bihar and Punjab can seek justice for their respective states. This is a democratic right.""But that doesn't mean they will be beaten up, and their clothes will be torn, and they will be called... This is not fair. I have received messages from Delhi journalists... I am aware of the language used. Silence is golden in this regard," the chief minister said.Going hammer and tongs at the NDA government, she said: "Whoever is not in tune with them are being targeted."Countering the allegations, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said in the Lok Sabha that "people have elected this government with a massive mandate and all 545 members are also members. The issue is who has disturbed the house. Those who have disturbed the house, even after complaint, they are not maintaining order".BJP Lok Sabha member Meenakshi Lekhi told reporters: "They can't find fault in the budget. On the budget, nobody in the opposition really had anything of substance to speak of, so they orchestrated all these things and after this, they said 'Narendra Modi chor hai' (Modi is a thief).""I have asked everybody, no one used any language against women, everyone has denied it, no such thing has happened," she said.