The BJP had moved heaven, earth and Narendra Modi in the hope of winning 200-plus seats in the 17th Bengal Legislative Assembly.
When the august House convened on Friday, the BJP’s 70-plus members moved heaven and earth to make their presence felt and ended up stealing the governor’s 15 minutes of fame.
Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was unable to fully read out his address because of protests from the Opposition benches. Dhankhar spent barely eight minutes inside the House after his ceremonial entry — escorted by Speaker Biman Banerjee and chief minister Mamata Banerjee — around 1.58pm.
When he rose to read out his 14-page speech, the BJP MLAs began protesting against the alleged post-poll-results violence in the state. Dhankhar sat down and then tried again but as the sloganeering continued, he read the last paragraph and his ceremonial exit followed.
“We knew that the BJP wanted to disrupt the whole session, but they couldn’t do it, as the governor read the first and the last paragraphs, and the speech was tabled…. The BJP failed in its plan, and now the discussions will duly take place on this speech,” said a source close to Mamata.
However, the saffron camp too was happy with the scale of disruption and the mileage it got from the chaos on Day One. Multiple first-time lawmakers told this newspaper that they had come prepared to precipitate bedlam.
“We did it because there was no mention, whatsoever, of the post-poll violence in the address, drafted by the state government. There was no mention of Trinamul’s goons, the inert police’s role — none of it. No violence found any mention in the speech…. We presented the reality before the House; we formally lodged our protest on its floor,” said Suvendu Adhikari, the Nandigram MLA from the BJP and leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.
