Kolkata, February 7 West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee said on Saturday that he had always given opposition members as much time as the ruling party.
"This House, as a temple of democracy, belongs equally to the opposition as it does to the treasury benches, in order to make democracy truly functional," Banerjee told the members while adjourning the House sine die, with elections due in the coming months.
"I had sought to give the maximum number of questions to the opposition MLAs, as I wanted them to actively participate in discussions and debates, which enriches the House's proceedings, rather than abstaining," he said.
"West Bengal is the only state where the opposition gets an equal amount of time to speak as the ruling party. I tried to allot them time to speak on issues concerning the people. If anyone felt offended by my behaviour or any ruling, it should be stated that it was not personal and that I had to strike a balance between tradition and decorum in the House," he said.
Thanking Banerjee as the "guardian of the House," Power Minister Aroop Biswas regretted that "the opposition was not present during a significant part of the discussion on the vote-on-account."
"In all these days, we have rarely seen any substantive speeches from them, only abstention if they disagreed with something. However, I am grateful to the three BJP MLAs who were present during the debate on the last day of the week," Biswas, a senior cabinet minister, said.
From the opposition, the lone MLA from the Indian Secular Front (ISF), Naushad Siddique, thanked the Speaker, saying, "We witnessed both your strictness and your kindness."
"Let us look for more space for democracy in the state in the coming days," he said.
Banerjee said that since the formation of the new government in 2021, the House had recorded 166 days, with 91 bills passed during this period.
In response to a question, the Speaker said that the House can be adjourned before the announcement of the assembly election dates by the state government in case of any emergency.
