Winter Session of Bengal Assembly to start today, ruckus likely on various issues

Kolkata, Nov 25 The crucial Winter Session of the West Bengal Assembly will start from Monday with the overall ambience during the session likely to be quite stormy following debates between the Treasury and Opposition Benches on a number of issues.

However, on the first day the House will be adjourned after the mandatory “obituary mentions” and the full-fledged debates on the issue will start from Tuesday.

The Winter Session will continue till December 10 and barring the Saturdays and Sundays in between, there will be no proceedings in the House on December 6 as the Trinamool Congress has decided to observe Babri Mosque Demolition Day on that day.

The first contentious issue that is likely to make the ambience within the House quite stormy will be a motion to be moved by the Treasury Bench opposing the Union government’s Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024.

Trinamool Congress legislators, as per the information available so far, will condemn the said Bill as an infringement on state rights and threat to minority communities.

The Opposition BJP legislators will oppose that motion and heated discussions between the Treasury and Opposition Benches on this issue are quite likely.

However, the exact date during the session when the said motion will be placed is yet to be decided.

Another motion that the Treasury Bench is slated to move during the Winter Session will be one condemning the role of the Union government in releasing money to the state government under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) scheme.

Insiders from the state unit of the BJP in West Bengal said that once the resolution is moved, their legislators will counter the arguments of the Treasury Bench and highlight instances of brewing public grievances in different pockets of the state over corruption in implementation of the housing scheme.

The oath-ceremony of the six legislators elected in the bypolls earlier this month is also scheduled during the Winter Session of the Assembly.

Another issue on which the Winter Session of the Assembly is expected to be quite stormy is over the ghastly rape and murder of a lady junior doctor of R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata in August this year.

The point of reference in this issue would be the Aparajita Women & Child Bill, the new Bill seeking capital punishment for convicts in rape and rape-murder cases, which though passed on the floor of the House in September this year is still pending clearance from the office of President Murmu.