TMC MP Dinesh Trivedi announced his resignation from the Rajya Sabha on Friday, saying he feels suffocated in the House as he is unable to do anything for the violence going on in his state, West Bengal. "If you sit here quietly and cannot do anything, then it is better that you resign from here and go to the land of Bengal and be with people," he said in the Upper House of Parliament.
Trivedi said the world looks at India when something happens. "What I mean to say is the way violence is taking place in our state. Sitting here, I am feeling perplexed as to what should I do," he added.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP said he is unable to bear various incidents that are happening in West Bengal.
"I am grateful to my party that it has sent me here, but now I feel a little suffocated. We are unable to do anything and there is atrocity (going on). My voice of conscience is saying what Swami Vivekananda used to say -- arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached," Trivedi said, while announcing his resignation from the House.
Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh said there is a due process for resigning from the House and asked Trivedi to submit his resignation in writing to the chairman.
On Friday, normal life in West Bengal was partially affected due to the 12-hour state-wide bandh called by the Left Front in protest against police action on its activists during their march towards state secretariat Nabanna. Schools in the state are scheduled to reopen during the day for students of classes 9-12 after a gap of 11 months. They were shut in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Left cadre blocked railway tracks and roads in Malda, Barddhaman, Raiganj, Asansol, Dankuni and parts of Kolkata, North 24 Parganas and Nadia districts during the bandh that began at 6 am. Protestors burnt tyres at some places and offered roses to policemen in other areas.
Left activists demanding jobs clashed with police in central Kolkata's Esplanade area on Thursday as they tried to break through barricades during their march towards Nabanna, leading to injuries to several participants and also the police.
Calling for bandh in protest against the "brutal attack" by the police, Left Front chairman Biman Bose had claimed that over 150 students and young men and women were injured.
Massive police presence was witnessed on the roads during the day to ensure that public transport functioned normally.
Left Front leader Sujan Chakraborty said that people have spontaneously responded in favour of the bandh.
He said that school students have not been prevented from physically attending their classes.
Meanwhile, Indian Secular Front leader Pirzada Abbas Siddiqui extended support to the bandh.
Condemning the police action, he alleged that the TMC government conducts administrative repression even as it opposes the "unconstitutional activities" of the Centre.