Tripura CPI(M) stages walkout over alleged racial comment by Minister Ratan Nath

Tripura's opposition party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), on March 25, staged a walkout protesting an alleged racial comment made by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ratan Lal Nath against Leader of Opposition Jitendra Chaudhury on Monday.  
 

The CPI(M) also demanded the withdrawal of the remarks made by the minister.  
 

Soon after the conclusion of the question-answer session on the third day of the Tripura Legislative Assembly session on Tuesday, party MLA Shayamal Chakraborty raised the issue. 
 

He said that on the evening of March 24, during the Assembly session, while the Leader of Opposition Jitendra Chaudhury was discussing the Budget, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Ratan Lal Nath, who is well experienced, got angry and remarked that the Leader of Opposition had "proved his caste."  
 

“He could have said that the Leader of Opposition Jitendra Chaudhury has proved the mentality of his party, but instead, he said that the Leader of Opposition has proved his caste. This is very unacceptable. We condemn this. The Parliamentary Affairs Minister must withdraw his statement. How can a senior member make such a remark?” Chakraborty said.  
 

Meanwhile, Speaker Biswabandhu Sen tried to stop the CPIM legislators, saying, “You can’t raise such issues now. You are changing topics. We can’t allow this. This is not right.”  
 

However, defending himself, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ratan Lal Nath countered the CPIM legislators, saying, “You want to provoke the indigenous people? Don’t you have any other issues? No one will fall into your trap. The people of the state know about CPIM’s negative campaign. We are not doing hooliganism; you people are doing it.”  
 

While responding, the Leader of Opposition said, “This is not culture; this is hooliganism.”  
 

As soon as the LoP addressed the Minister’s behavior as hooliganism, the Speaker asked for the word "hooliganism" to be withdrawn, following which CPIM MLAs approached the well, protested, and later staged a walkout.