Left delegates denied access to press podium

HOWRAH: A delegation of Left front MLAs led by Anisur Rahman was denied access to entering the podium of the press corner in Nabanna while they were going to brief the press on Wednesday.
The delegation had come to Nabanna to meet the agriculture minister and submit a memorandum on the issue of jute farmers getting affected because of decline in its selling price.There was no statement from the government as to why the MLAs were not allowed to enter in the press corner podium.
Not only the Left delegation, some members of the state coordination committee who had also come to Nabanna on Wednesday and met education minister Partha Chatterjee were denied access to the press corner podium. The security personnel said that they only had to follow the instructions of the higher authorities.
Sources in the secretariat said that instructions were given not to let anybody from the opposition camp enter in the press podium without being allowed by the higher authorities as the government did not want anybody to make any comment against it on the ongoing Saradha scam.
Rahman, along with five other Left MLAs, came to Nabanna to meet agriculture minister Purnendu Basu and convey to him that the farmers were hit hard as the selling price of jute had gone down drastically. After the meeting, the delegation came to the press corner to meet the press and brief them on the meeting. But the security personnel stopped them.
“This is peculiar. Nobody could say as to on whose order were we barred from entering the podium. We will not accept such autocratic, dictatorial system,” Rahman said.
Led by Rahman, members of the delegation sat down outside the press corner and demanded that the podium be opened. After around 30 minutes, Rahman briefed the press outside the podium. He also said that though they left the matter for the day, they would organize stronger protest if the system prevailed in the future.