Aug. 19: Harkishen Singh Surjeet’s memory probably slipped, but it could be enough to drag him to court.

In an article in the latest issue of the CPM mouthpiece People’s Democracy, the 88-year-old Marxist said a “so-called firebrand lady of Bengal” was among political bigwigs who were trying to organise a “mayhem” against Sikhs in 1984 after Indira Gandhi’s assassination.

The allusion drew an indignant response from the “firebrand lady”.

“Everyone knows that I am often referred to by that term,” Mamata Banerjee bristled. “If Mr Surjeet really has guts, he should write another article and identify the woman who has been described as the firebrand lady.”

The Trinamul Congress chief said it was the CPM’s “old game” of trying to malign her before next year’s state polls as her party was the “main opposition”. “Had I been involved in the anti-Sikh riots, why did not the CPM tell voters during campaigning then and why has it been raised after a gap of 21 years?”

In the article, Surjeet has narrated the way the Bengal government, then headed by Jyoti Basu, had put down the first stirrings of trouble after Indira Gandhi’s death at the hands of her Sikh bodyguards. “This was necessary because some political bigwigs, including the so-called firebrand lady of Bengal, were trying to organise mayhem in the state,” Surjeet said.

The People’s Democracy staff seem to believe that the allusion may have been accidental. “It was an oblique reference and could have been a slip,” said a member of the editorial staff.

Mamata said her party would file a defamation suit against the CPM leader if he does not withdraw the comment and offer a written apology.

Trinamul sources said senior leader Ajit Panja, a barrister, has been told to take legal action against the persons responsible for maligning the party chief.

A notice is being served to the printer and publisher of the CPM organ. A draft of the notice has already been prepared.

“I respect Surjeet’s age and status as a senior politician,” Mamata said. “But what he has stated is a downright lie, malicious fabrication, intended to malign me and which serves the CPM’s narrow political interests.”

The Trinamul leader said the day Indira Gandhi was assassinated, she was with Pranab Mukherjee, now defence minister in the Manmohan Singh government, in Midnapore where the late Rajiv Gandhi had come to address a gathering. “We all came back to Calcutta along with Pranabda on the same day,” she added.

CPM state secretary Anil Biswas said though he thinks Mamata “herself was not involved in the turmoil in Calcutta”, her party ? she was then with the Congress ? had “no role” in protecting the Sikhs.

This is the second time in the last one year that Surjeet has raised the hackles with his comments in the party mouthpiece. Former Censor Board chief Anupam Kher had slapped a defamation suit alleging that Surjeet, then general secretary of the CPM, had called him an “RSS agent” in an article.