In an unprecedented incident, the West Bengal Assembly was adjourned on Tuesday till December 10 due to failure of the new sound system, prompting the Trinamool Congress to observe a ‘black day’ alleging it was an attempt to “gag the Opposition’s voice” when a central team was here to assess law and order in the state.
As the House assembled on the second day of the winter session, Speaker Hasim Abdul Halim announced that the House stands adjourned till 11 am on December 10 as the sound system was not functioning properly.
Government chief whip Md Masih told reporters that the new sound system replacing the 25-year-old one did not function properly.
Admitting that this was an unprecedented thing to happen, he said the department concerned should have looked into it and ensured that it functioned properly.
“If this was not done, then the responsibility should be fixed and appropriate action taken,” Mr. Masih said.
Calling it a “black day in the history of parliamentary democracy”, leader of Opposition Partha Chattopadhyay alleged that the Opposition was not allowed to speak in the House on various issues including terror when the central team was in the state to assess the law and order situation.
Mr. Chatterjee alleged that the Speaker tried to save Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on the instruction of CPI(M).
“The Opposition wanted to raise several important issues including law and order and price rise. About 17-18 bills were supposed to come up for discussion in the House, but the government failed to get them ready and used the failure of the sound system as a pretext to adjourn the House,” he said.
“It proves that the government is not functioning. This government should go,” he added.
Slamming the decision to adjourn the assembly, Congress leader Manas Bhunia said the present session was very important and the Opposition was ready to raise a number of issues including law and order situation especially when the central team was visiting the state.
Socialist Unity Centre of India MLA Debaprasad Sarakar alleged that it was a “deliberate move” to adjourn the House as the government was afraid of facing the Opposition.
The government chief whip, however, refuted Opposition’s allegation, saying, “It is a technical matter and any attempt to read a different meaning is foolish.”
