Gopal Roy raises pertinent issues in the last part of assembly session, Ram Prasad shines as officiating speaker

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, September 24, 2025

Veteran Congress MLA and former PCC president Gopal Roy who alone was present in the last part of the uneventful assembly session yesterday raised pertinent issues by pointing out that the copies of six bills including GST reform passed by the assembly by voice vote later had not been distributed among MLAs for a fair idea for discussion. The last part of the assembly session turned out to be a dull affair as the treasury bench practically bulldozed with the bills. Gopal Roy and several other MLAs raised the issue of smart metre for electricity bills , pointing out the exorbitant bills being slapped on the people. But when the minister for power Ratan Lal Nath sought to justify the installation of smart metres singing its virtues in a longish speech, a number of MLAs including Gopal Roy asked if the smart metres are so good why the people across the state are protesting against the installation and why the BJP in West Bengal is opposing installation of the smart metres there.

The issue of infiltration from Bangladesh and the denial of invitation to opposition MLAs was also raised questioning the non-invitation and the chief minister and parliamentary affairs minister Ratan Lal Nath said that there are constant attempts by the state government and the BSF to stop infiltration and many have been pushed back through due process. In this regard statistical data was also tabled in the assembly. On the invitation to prime minister’s programme the chief minister said that the prime minister wanted his visit to be exclusively for offering ‘Puja’ to ‘Mata Tripura Sundari’ and not a public affair with meeting, rallies etc.

In the absence of leader of the opposition and state secretary Jiten Chowdhury, the CPI (M) bench also cut a sorry figure as they walked out of the house to avoid participation in the discussion over the issue of infiltration and deportation in the interest of their vote bank politics. Interesting the deputy speaker Ram Prasad Paul who was officiating as speaker in the absence of sick speaker Bishwabandhu Sen tried his best to conduct the house in an orderly and fair manner. Unlike Bishwabandhu, he was considerate to the opposition and when the CPI (M) MLAs prepared to stage walk-out, Ram Prasad politely told them to stay back and participate in the proceedings , assuring them that he would give them sufficient time for discussion.

However the conduct of the treasury bench including Ratan Lal Nath, Kalyani Roy and Sushanta Chowdhury left a lot to be desired as whenever the opposition tried to raise an issue they tried to throw spanner by referring to matters of the past and shouting them down. Besides, Ratan Lal Nath in his inimitable style touched the feet of BJP MLA Jiten Majumder as the latter had asked his guilty nephew to surrender to police in connection with the case of burning to death of a woman . He would have done the same to Brishaketu Debbarma of ‘Tipra Motha’ for informing official authorities of illegal hookline connection benefit enjoyed by a man in his constituency but Brishaketu was absent from the house and what had been done to Jiten Majumder could not be replicated in this case. The Congress MLA Birajit Sinha had earlier slammed the government on the issue of non-invitation of the opposition to the prime minister’s programme saying a prime minister does not belong to any party but to the people and hence the opposition deserved to be invited to the programme.

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