Uproar in Lok Sabha over Mamata’s Lalgarh rally
By IANSMonday, August 9, 2010
NEW DELHI - The Left parties in the Lok Sabha Monday asked the central government to clarify its stand on the Maoists after a “responsible party in the government and their ministers” decided to hold a rally in West Bengal’s Maoist-affected Lalgarh.
The Trinamool Congress, however, rejected the allegation, saying that the party and its leader, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, stand “for peace and harmony”.
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) member A. Sampath, who was allowed to speak after Left MPs created an uproar and gathered near Speaker Meira Kumar’s podium after the zero hour, said an important United Progressive Alliance (UPA) partner and its ministers were acting irresponsibly by joining hands with “anti-nationals.”
The government should clarify its stand, said Sampath, an MP from Kerala.
He, however, did not name Banerjee or the Trinamool Congress.
Sampath said the minister and her party were joining hands with the Maoists, undermining Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s declaration that the ultras are the biggest threat to national security.
Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay said Lalgarh was a part of West Bengal and argued that Banerjee as a union minister had every right to spread “peace and harmony” in the troubled area.
“We are totally against politics of violence,” Bandyopadhyay said.
Earlier, there was an uproar in the Lok Sabha over Banerjee’s “apolitical” rally in Lalgarh.
Left party MPs tried to raise the issue at the beginning of question hour but the Trinamool Congress MPs protested vociferously.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and his deputy, V. Narayanasamy, had a tough time pacifying members from both sides.
With senior CPI-M MPs away to attend the extended central committee meeting at Vijaywada, their colleagues Bansa Gopal Chowdhury and Sampath tried to raise the issue.
The Trinamool Congress countered through Sudip Bandyopadhyay.
The speaker could bring the house to order only after the ministers reached out to the agitating members.
Banerjee had announced that Monday’s rally in Lalgarh in West Midnapore district would be held under the banner of an apolitical forum - Santras Birodhi Mancha (Anti-Atrocities Platform) - and not the Trinamool Congress.
Strife torn Lalgarh, she said, would observe Democracy Day Monday. The pro-Maoist tribal group Peoples’ Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) has decided to participate in the rally.
