Gunning for trouble

As the day's proceedings were about to begin in the West Bengal Assembly on Tuesday, some Left Front legislators walked into the House brandishing toy pistols and shouting slogans against the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the state police. Speaker Biman Banerjee tried to intervene, but could not restrain the MLAs. Five pistols were later seized by the House marshal on the Speaker's instructions. The pistols would be examined to ascertain if they were real or toys, said the Speaker. What was the ruckus about? The MLAs were protesting the participation of gun-toting men in a TMC procession in West Bengal's Murshidabad district a day before. When Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee entered the House a little past noon, she rapped the Left MLAs for bringing "disrepute" to the House and lectured them on its "decorum".