It was state politics, which was played out to its fullest, when West Bengal rivals Trinamul Congress and CPI(M) members entered into a heated verbal spat on Thursday during a debate Land Acquisition Bill.
As the issue of land acquisition is a hot subject in the state, it all started when Trinamul Congress leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay, while participating in the debate on the measure, referred to incidents in West Bengal’s Nandigram and Singur, when the Left was in power.
CPI(M) MPs led by Ram Chandra Dome were seen protesting against Mr Badyopadhyay, who said that many farmers agitating against forceful land acquisition died of bullets in Nandigram and Singur when then state government applied a more than century old Land Acquisition Act, 1894, to acquire land. TMC MPs led by Kalyan Banerjee and Saugata Roy countered the agitating CPI(M) MPs which led to a heated exchange of words between them.
Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh, who moved the bill for consideration and passing, and minister of state in Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) V. Narayanasamy managed to pacify the agitating MPs.
However, the situation again went out of control when CPI(M) leader Basudeb Acharia was invited for the debate. TMC MPs including Mr Banerjee and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar shouted at Mr Acharia.
CPI(M) MPs, including Dome, M.B. Rajesh and A. Sampath reacted angrily towards the agitating MPs and the two sides nearly came to blows.