The Bengal Assembly on Wednesday adopted a resolution for Constitution Day to mark 75 years since the adoption of the Indian Constitution, with Speaker Biman Banerjee, lashing out at BJP MLAs, saying their freedom to criticise him demonstrated the presence of a democratic atmosphere in the state.

Banerjee was responding to criticism made by the leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday saying that the resolution moved by the Speaker demeaned the dignity of the chair because it directly targeted the central government and read like a "political pamphlet".

“In this House, legislators of the ruling party and Opposition are allowed to speak freely. They are free to criticise without humiliating others and this proves that there is a democratic atmosphere in the state,” Banerjee said.

Banerjee rejected the allegation raised by Adhikari that Opposition MLAs are not invited to government programmes,

“In all programmes of the Assembly, leader of the Opposition and the Opposition chief whip are invited but unfortunately enough they never come,” he said.

However, a war of words broke out between Agnimitra Paul and ministers Firhad Hakim and Arup Biswas when the BJP MLA said: “Our chief minister is a woman but here women are continuously humiliated. Here the ruling party openly defames the rape victim and the ministers make derogatory statements against the women.”

Minister for urban development Firhad Hakim responding to Paul’s allegation said, “This state is the safest for the women and that has been certified by the central government.” The minister sarcastically asked the BJP leader to join the TMC.

However later in the day, Paul in an audio release said, “Janab (Mr) Hakim should know that I have an ideology and ethics and for that I support the BJP. So, whatever might be the case I shall be in BJP. I also wanted to ask how he came to know that I shall lose in 2026?”

The BJP leader remarked that, according to Article 15 of the Constitution, religious discrimination is prohibited in the country. However, she claimed that in this state, a particular religion is being favoured, and permission for celebrating festivals like Durga Puja and Ram are denied.

Opposition chief whip Shankar Ghosh also highlighted the deplorable condition of the women and police atrocities in the state.

Responding to Paul’s allegation, state power minister, Arup Biswas said: “This year we have given connection to 62,000 Durga Pujas across the state. So, please don’t disregard religion, observe it with honesty”.

The Speaker then requested the BJP legislators not to leave the House and Paul and Sikha Chatterjee came back to their places while other Opposition MLAs left. The duo left the House after some time.