Protests erupt in West Bengal Assembly over BJP MLA’s “madrasas fuel criminality” remark
Kolkata: Protests erupted in budget session of the West Bengal Assembly after Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislators objected to remarks by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Agnimitra Paul, who said that state funding for madrasas was fostering criminality among minority youth, triggering a major uproar in the House.
According to Kashmir Media Service, participating in the debate on the interim state budget tabled a day earlier, Agnimitra Paul argued that funds allocated to madrasas were failing to uplift minority communities.
She claimed that instead of producing doctors, engineers, or teachers, such institutions were encouraging the growth of youth who “end up becoming criminals.”
She further said the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) is exploiting minorities as a “vote bank” while neglecting their real development, and said the recommendations of the Sachar Committee had been ignored.
Agnimitra Paul also challenged senior TMC leaders, including Cabinet Minister and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim and Mass Education Extension Minister Siddiqullah Chowdhury, to release a white paper detailing how many professionals, such as doctors, engineers, IAS and IPS officers, or scientists, had emerged from madrasas over the past 15 years, and how many youths, according to her, had instead been pushed toward crime.
Her remarks drew immediate condemnation from TMC members.
Firhad Hakim and senior minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay submitted a formal letter of protest to Speaker Biman Banerjee, who subsequently ordered that the controversial portions of Paul’s statement be expunged from the Assembly proceedings.
Opposing her comments in the House, Firhad Hakim said that minorities should not be equated with criminality and urged her to withdraw the statement.
Later, speaking to the media, he said Paul crossed “the limits of civility” and questioned how she could brand an entire community as criminal.
Citing figures such as former President A. P. J Abdul Kalam and poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, Hakim stressed the contributions of minorities to India’s freedom struggle and national life, asserting that minorities share equal rights in the country.
Firhad Hakim also launched a counterattack on the BJP, referring to past communal violence and said that leaders aligned with Paul’s party had themselves faced serious charges.
“We strongly oppose this. We, the Muslim community, are not criminals. Many who sacrificed their lives in India’s freedom struggle were from the Muslim community. Atrocities may occur in places like Uttar Pradesh, but that does not define any entire community as criminal,” he said.
Siddiqullah Chowdhury, West Bengal’s Minister of Mass Education Extension and Library Services, asserted that studying in a madrasa does not make anyone a criminal and demanded an apology for the remarks.
He further criticised Agnimitra Paul, saying she “lacks formal education” and describing her as “an aggressive woman.”
The incident has further intensified political tensions between the ruling TMC and the BJP in West Bengal, turning the budget session into a flashpoint over communal and educational issues.
