TMC turmoil continues, top leaders under legal pressure
Kolkata/Siliguri, May 29 -- The post-poll turmoil gripping the Trinamool Congress (TMC) intensified on Thursday with two senior leaders questioning the leadership of former chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew and party MP Abhishek Banerjee, and the Kolkata police accepting a complaint against the latter.
Police complaints against the top two TMC leaders were only part of the party's continuing troubles since its ouster by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in state polls earlier this month: former Rajya Sabha MP Santanu Sen on Thursday resigned as the party's national spokesperson after criticising the outfit over the controversy surrounding the RG Kar rape and murder case.
The complaint against Abhishek follows one against the former CM for allegedly making derogatory remarks about "Sanatan Dharma" while attending a festival last year. The FIR against Mamata was registered in Siliguri, following a complaint by an advocate on May 25.
In Kolkata, Arnab Kanti Roy, a resident of Bhabanipur - the same neighbourhood where the top two leaders live -- lodged a complaint at the police station on Wednesday. He alleged that Abhishek, MP from Diamond Harbour, referred to the Gujarati community as an "anti-Bengali Gujarati gang" in a Bengali post on X on May 2.
"I have lived in Bhabanipur all my life. There are many Gujaratis among my friends and neighbours. How can an MP make such an irresponsible comment against a community?" Roy said on Thursday.
The Kolkata police refused to confirm whether an FIR was lodged based on Roy's complaint until late on Thursday night.
Separately, the Cyber Crime police station in north Bengal's Siliguri town registered an FIR on May 25 against the former CM on charges of making objectionable remarks against the Hindu religion at a Muslim religious festival and remarks about a community during the election campaign in April. The FIR was based on a written complaint by lawyer Rinki Chatterjee Singh, who alleged that Banerjee, while serving as CM, had "referred to the ancient Sanatan Dharma as "ganda dharma" and "dirty dharma," thereby insulting and hurting the faith and sentiments.
Tarak Singh, one of Mamata's oldest followers and a Kolkata Municipal Corporation councillor for 20 years, surfaced as the first TMC leader to demand her removal from the top leadership.
"The party cannot move forward unless Mamata and Abhishek Banerjee are removed. Let new leaders be selected through a democratic process. I am not afraid of anyone. Mamata Banerjee created splits in the party. We were defeated because of her actions," Singh told the media.
Mizoram's former advocate general Biswajit Deb, who joined the TMC in 2018, accused Mamata and Abhishek Banerjee of allowing institutional corruption. "I moved away from TMC three days ago. Corruption was rampant in the party and government departments. This could not have happened without the knowledge of Mamata and Abhishek Banerjee. They are responsible. The TMC will completely disintegrate. It is a matter of days," Deb told news channel ABP Ananda.
As the police cases added to the discomfort of the TMC leadership, former Rajya Sabha member and ex-national president of the Indian Medical Association, Santanu Sen, resigned from the post of TMC's national spokesperson on Thursday.
"After the RG Kar rape and murder incident, I went vocal and I provided the party's top leadership with proof of corruption against Sandip Ghosh, then the institution's principal, and many other officials. No action was taken," Sen....
To read the full article or to get the complete feed from this publication, please
Contact Us.