Left Front, Congress MLAs walk out of West Bengal Assembly after Speaker rejects demand to discuss assault on para-teachers

Kolkata: The Congress and the Left Front legislators on Tuesday staged a walkout from the West Bengal Assembly after their demand for a discussion over alleged police assault on para-teachers was turned down. [caption id=“attachment_7235741” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of West Bengal Legislative Assembly. Wikimedia Commons[/caption] The demand of Left Front legislature party leader Sujan Chakraborty that an adjournment motion be brought in and a discussion held on the matter was rejected by Speaker Biman Banerjee, prompting the Left Front and Congress legislators to walk out after shouting anti-government slogans. They then staged a protest outside the House. “There are several issues but the state government neither allows the Opposition to raise nor discuss them. The way the para-teachers were beaten up by the police is not only undemocratic but also inhuman. We condemn it,” Chakraborty told reporters. The Left Front and the Congress legislators, however, joined the House proceedings in the second half. Para-teachers sitting on a hunger strike in Nadia’s Kalyani to press for hike in their salaries were allegedly assaulted by police on 17 August. Ten eminent personalities of the state had written an open letter to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on 20 August over the incident, urging her government to resolve the issue  in a democratic manner.