Agartala, June 21 (PTI): The BJP continued its attack on former Chief Minister Manik Sarkar with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ratan Lal Nath today justifying his party legislators dubbing him as "nti-national" for giving national anthem played in the Assembly on Tuesday a miss.
After end of Question Hour today, the state Parliamentary Affairs minister brought the yesterday's issue alive by justifying the charge levelled by his party colleagues against Sarkar.
The veteran CPI (M) leader Sarkar, who served as CM of Tripura for 20 years before being ousted from the power by BJP in elections in March, was present in the House.
Sarkar, however, did not speak anything on the issue either within the House or outside.
Biswabandhu Sen, who was today unanimously elected as Deputy Speaker, had yesterday alleged that Manik Sarkar and his party CPI (M) were "anti national" triggering uproarious scenes in the Assembly resulting in walk out by the opposition members.
Referring a small book-hand book for members the House, Nath said the words like "anti-national" and "seditious" are not in the list of un-parliamentary words in the hand book.
The words anti-national and seditious may be controversial but they are not in the league of un-parliamentary words as per the hand book for members. My appeal to all the members is to go through the books to be well acquainted with parliamentary procedure and antiquate, he said.
When contacted, Member of Parliament (MP) and CPI(M) Central Committee member Jitendra Chowdhury today sharply reacted to the allegation brought against opposition leader- Manik Sarkar and the party.
Those who are saying such un-parliamentary words in Assembly, considered a sacred place of the democracy, dont know the background of Manik Sarkar and his party-CPI(M).
Their political knowledge is not zero rather I would say minus, said the five-time MLA and former Minister.
The Tripura Assembly had yesterday witnessed heated debate over the absence of Sarkar, who is now the leader of the opposition in the House.
Shortly after question hour, BJP legislator Dilip Das raised the issue of Sarkar's absence in the important Budget session saying the newcomers could have learnt a lot from the former chief minister who had ruled the state for twenty years.
CPI(M) MLA Badal Chowdhury had replied, "Manik Sarkar went to Panisagar in Unakoti district where a party leader Tapas Sutradhar was brutally killed by unknown assailants on Monday night."
Before Chowdhury could end his reply, BJP MLA Biswabandhu Sen said the issue had been rightly pointed out by Das. "The opposition leader entered the House after playing of national anthem yesterday. It shows his intention. Practically, the CPI(M) is anti-national," he alleged.
After sharp exchanges, the opposition CPI (M) members had staged a walkout from the House yesterday.
