Following the ruling TMC legislators’ three-day dharna at the statue of Dr BR Ambedkar inside the Assembly premises against the Centre over non-payment of state’s dues, the BJP MLAs on Friday washed the protest site with Gangajal, triggering allegations of insulting the tribal leaders of the TMC. On Friday, BJP MLAs, led by Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, entered the Assembly premises with kalash (pitchers) containing Gangajal on their heads and headed to the statue of Dr BR Ambedkar where the TMC legislators sat on dharna for the past three days. “Chief Minister (Mamata Banerjee) and others who were sitting at the statue of Ambedkar are thieves. They tarnished the image of our democracy and our Constitution architect BR Ambedkar. So, we cleaned that area as per the Hindu Sanatan dharma,” Adhikari told mediapersons after cleaning the area, which the BJP called “suddhikaran abhiyan (purification programme)”. Hitting out at the BJP for carrying out “suddhikaran” (purification) of the dharna site, the TMC accused the main Opposition party of insulting the tribal MLAs who sat with the CM during the protest. “The BJP has insulted our adivasi (tribal) MLAs who sat in the protest. Jyotsna Mandi, Birbaha Hansda and other MLAs sat in the dharna against the Central government’s prejudicial act of stopping payment of MGNREGA workers,” TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said. Speaker Biman Banerjee also objected to the BJP’s purification act, saying no dharna or protest would be allowed inside the Assembly premises without his permission. “The behaviour of the members of the Opposition party in the Assembly in the last two days has been reprehensible. The ruling party members sat on a dharna with my permission. But the Opposition party did not take any permission. They were sitting on the stairs obstructing the movement of people, as well as making gestures that were sufficient to cause a breach of peace. Today I have ordered, that if anyone has to sit on a dharna during this session, they have to take my permission. Otherwise, no protest or dharna will be allowed. If you want to do it in the lobby or under the statue of Ambedkar, you will have to get permission,” Banerjee said. Following the BJP’s suddhikaran programme, over 10 marshals were seen deployed in front of the Ambedkar statue.
