Gouranga Chatterjee, a CPI(M) MLA who received head injuries was taken to hospital as also two TMC MLAs Mahmuda Begum who was hit in the chest and Pulok Roy who was injured in the leg.
Tempers ran high after Left members who tried to bring an adjournment motion on the mushrooming of chit funds in the state rushed to Speaker Biman Banerjee's podium and started shouting slogans.
Senior ministers Partha Chatterjee, Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim shielded the Speaker as Left members continued to shout slogans.
Subsequently a section of TMC and Left MLAs rushed to to the well and came face to face, with Chatterjee and Hakim trying to separate them.
There was pandemonium as CPI(M) member Nazmul Haque snatched away the microphone of the Speaker who adjourned the House till 1.30 pm.
Congress members who were asked to join in the protests by the Left, did not did so.
Trouble broke out again after the House reassembled.
Parliamentary Affairs minister Partha Chatterjee demanded that action be taken against Left legislators who insulted the Speaker and snatched away his microphone.
The Speaker thereafter suspended three Left MLAs Nazmul Haque, Sushanta Besra and Amjad Hussain.
One Left member, the lone Jharkhand Party MLA Deblina Hembram and a TMC member were seen engaged in a heated verbal exchange.
Subsequently, a free for all ensued in the House with members of TMC and Left coming to blows.
The Speaker, however, continued the normal business of the House and discussion took place on West Bengal Scheduled Caste and Tribal Identification Amendment Bill, 2012.
Congress members walked out protesting the violence in the House.
Left members also walked out and staged a dharna outside the Assembly chamber.
Leader of the Opposition Suryja Kanta Mishra belonging to the CPI(M) said his party members wanted to bring an adjournment on chit funds which collected Rs 1,400 crore with the involvement of the ruling party.
He alleged that indecent remarks were made against Jharkhand Party member Deblina Hembram who was beaten up and bloodied.
Parliamentary Affairs minister Partha Chatterjee intervened to say that the charge could not be accepted as Hembram was very much present in the House.
He claimed that treasury bench members were attacked and injured and questioned if Left members came to the House to indulge in such dirty things.
Chatterjee also demanded exemplary punishment for the three Left MLAs for tarnishing the image of the House and alleged that they brought some goondas into the House.
Stating that during its 34-year rule the Left had reduced the state's economy to shambles, he said, when the Mamata Banerjee government was trying to rectify the situation they were trying to scuttle it.
He said the mobile phone of TMC MLA Ashoke Ghose was stolen in the melee.
Government chief whip Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay denied that indecent remarks were made against Deblina Hembram and claimed that he was pushed by two CPIM members.
Later, senior Congress member Manas Bhunia said his party was against disruption of the House.
He said chit funds had also functioned during Left Front rule in the state.
Leader of the Opposition Surya Kant Mishra, belonging to the CPI(M) said the three suspended MLAs, Sushanta Besra, Najimul Haque and Amjad Hussain were denied the principle of natural justice and the Speaker's decision was unilateral.
Mishra said CPI(M) member Gouranga Chatterjee was admitted to the SSKM Hospital with head injuries while woman party member Debolina Hembram was allegedly dragged by the hair.
Alleging that Speaker was partisan by allowing Parliamentary Affairs minister Partha Chatterjee to intervene while he was speaking, Mishra said “If this be so, then I should also be allowed to speak as Leader of the Opposition.”
Alleging that chit funds which had mushroomed in the state mopped up over Rs 1,500 crore and were involved in hawala operations, Mishra said LF members moved a motion demanding discussion on them as they posed a threat to investors and agents.
Mishra said the LF members would stage a sit-in inside the assembly till the Speaker conceded their demands.
“Our next course of action will depend on how the Speaker responds to our demands,” he said.
TMC govt defends chair's ruling
The West Bengal government today defended Speaker Biman Banerjee's ruling in suspending three CPI(M) MLAs for instigating violence in the Assembly and rejected the countercharge against Trinamool Congress as false.
Parliamentary Affairs minister Partha Chatterjee said that the House adopted a resolution condemning activities of the CPI(M) members in provoking violence, abusing the Speaker and disrupting proceedings of the House.
He said that the Speaker had suspended the members under section 347 which did not provide any scope for self-defence as demanded by Leader of the Opposition Suryakanta Mishra, belonging to the CPI(M).
Alleging that despite being decimated in the state in last election, the CPI(M) had not yet reformed itself and was still resorting to 'goondaraj' as it had done in last 34 years, Chatterjee rejected Mishra's charge that Trinamool Congress members were on the offensive against opposition MLAs and said it was false.
"What business had CPI(M) member Debalina Hembram to go to the treasury bench and attack our women members?" he questioned.
The violence further distanced Trinamool Congress and the Congress which asked the ruling party to be more patient despite the opposition's provocation.
"It is a dark chapter in the legislative history in the state and ruling party should be more patient despite provocation by the opposition. Unfortunately, Trinamool Congress could not exhibit it," Congress leader Manas Bhuinya, who quit the Mamata Banerjee cabinet along with six other ministers in September, told reporters.
Bhuinya, former Irrigation minister, took exception to the parliamentary affairs minister's oblique reference to the 'shameless role' of the Congress when CPI(M) and Trinamool Congress MLAs came to blows in the House.
He demanded that the Speaker call all parties to work out a formula for smooth functioning of the House.
Congress blames TMC govt for violence in WB house
Strained relations between the Congress and the Trinamool Congress came under further stress today, with the Congress launching a frontal attack on its former ally for the violence in West Bengal assembly and seeking the Governor's intervention to protect members.
''We feel insecure. We draw your attention and seek protection. What happened today inside the House was serious and shocking. Ruling party (Trinamool Congress) members and a minister started beating some opposition members, including a woman member, in the House in front of the Speaker'', CLP leader Md. Sohrab said after submitting a memorandum to the state Governor M K Narayanan in Raj Bhavan.
Congress' meeting with the Governor was followed by another audience by the state's constitutional head by a Left Front legislature party delegation which submitted its views against the government.
Sohrab alleged that the House witnessed a dark chapter in legislative history in the state ''which is unpleasant and unprecedented''.
The CLP leader said in the memorandum to the Speaker, ''if this situation continues in the House, we can't imagine what will happen outside the House''.
So, he said, the Congress members walked out of the House in protest.
Senior Congress member Manas Bhuinya said that the despite opposition provocation, the government should have been patient and tolerant.
''We urged the Governor to see what is to be done. We feel that the Chief Minister, being leader of the House, should sit with the Speaker, Parliamentary Affairs minister, leader of the opposition and CLP leader, to probe why such ugly incidents took place inside the House.
''We informed the Governor that we will go to the House tomorrow to study if the situation is congenial to attend the session in the next few days'', he said.
Bhuinya said that the CLP would inform the incident to the WBPCC and AICC ''as the violence is a direct insult to the august House''.
''The Governor has assured us to look into the matter'', he said.
Meanwhile, leader of the opposition Suryakanta Mishra met the Governor with a Front legislature party delegation to ''inform him about the unprecedented incident in the Assembly''.
''As per constitution, Governor is part of the Assembly, We informed him of the whole incident''.
Mishra said that the Governor's attention was also drawn to the fact that when the state government had ''failed'' to provide security to the government Chief Whip Sobhandev Chattopadhyay, how can we expect the minimum security under the present dispensation''.
He said that the state government was evasive of the functioning of the chit funds in the state, adding ''Presidential assent in this regard is still awaited since January 25, 2010. We think state Governor can do something in this regard''.
The opposition leader said that Governor was informed that principle of natural justice was not meted out to three CPI(M) MLAs who were suspended by the Speaker.