"I don't know why he (Suvendhu Adhikari, leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal assembly) attacked me, but he punched me hard on the nose," alleges Asit Mazumder, the 63-year-old Trinamool Congress MLA from Chunchura.
Mazumder was speaking to Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com from a hospital bed that he admitted himself into after pandemonium in the West Bengal assembly on Monday resulted in injuries to several MLAs from both the TMC and Bharatiya Janata Party and resulted in suspension of five BJP MLAs.
Earlier, Dipak Barman, the BJP MLA from Falakata, Alipurduar, blamed the TMC and assembly marshals for misbehaving with women MLAs from the TMC in a conversation with this reporter.
Speaking from the hospital bed, Mazumder, who said he is nursing a nose injury, blamed "BJP rowdies" for throwing chairs on women marshals in the House.
"We were just trying to save the marshals from the BJP rowdies. They went berserk after the speaker rejected their demand for a discussion on some issue," says Mazumder without mentioning what the issue was.
"The BJP MLAs are lying through their teeth; they are a bunch of liars," Mazumder says when asked about Barman's claim that the TMC MLAs and security marshals misbehaved with women MLAs from the BJP.
According to BJP MLA Burman, the party had given notice to Speaker Biman Bandhyopadhyay for a discussion on the burning alive of eight people (now nine), including women and children, in Rampurhat in Birbhum district and the worsening law and order situation in the state.
"These BJP MLAs know only how to create a tamasha," says Mazumder. "They don't understand parliamentary democracy."
Asked if the speaker should have refused to allow a discussion on the Rampurhat massacre, Mazumder says, "It's for the speaker to decide. It is his prerogative."
Mazumder refused to respond to if the BJP was not justified in demanding a discussion on the death of nine people who were burned alive allegedly to avenge killing of a TMC worker in Rampurhat.
"I need to rest now," Mazumder says. "I am in hospital."
