Madam, we congratulate you on behalf of Trinamool Congress and on behalf of our Chairperson, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Madam, we are listed at No. 17 in today’s List of Business. That means, all is well that ends well. Trinamool Congress is at No. 17. That means everything is running smoothly and everything will go smoothly according to our estimation.
Madam, before you there was another woman Speaker, Meira Kumar. I must mention her name here because she also maintained the House very nicely. And your presence, your appearance, your ever smiling face have already started giving us the very first impression that you will accept the very common philosophy of parliamentary democracy that the House belongs to the Opposition.
The huge number of Members on the Government side should not make you feel that the Opposition is small. The big number on the Treasury Benches should not make them feel that the small Opposition can be taken for granted. I am very confident that we will try and see that the House runs smoothly with the prestige of the Opposition upheld. As Mr. Mallikarjun Kharge said, all parties, whether small or big, should be given proper justice.
Madam, you will be glad to know that out of 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, we have won 34. Out of them, from 1/3 seats we have brought women MPs this time to the Lok Sabha. Reservation for one-third women in the Parliament is a long-pending demand of many political parties; we are here, but we could not succeed in doing that. But in this Parliamentary election, our leader Kum. Mamata Banerjee, has made that out of 34 Members, 11 Members are women. So, we have succeeded up to that level. Naturally we welcome your assignment as the unanimous Speaker. We welcome you for occupying that Chair.
Thank you.
