A formal complaint was lodged against actors Parambrata Chatterjee and Swastika Mukherjee at Gariahat police station on Thursday for allegedly inciting and instigating post-poll violence after the 2021 Assembly elections.
According to the complaint lodged by lawyer Joydeep Sen, a social media post by Parambrata on May 2, 2021 “on the face of it appears to abate, encourage, incite and instigate large-scale violence at such time when favourable electoral mandate for Trinamool Congress Party became apparent and reports of grave violence against BJP workers had already started to circulate.”
The post in question on Parambrata’s timeline said: “Aj biswa rograni divas ghoshito hok (let today be declared as world drubbing day).”
To this, Swastika had replied, saying: “Hahahah Hok Hok (laughing with endorsement).”
Sen has alleged that soon after Parambrata’s post, followed by Swastika’s alleged endorsement, a BJP functionary from Beleghata — Abhijit Sarkar — was murdered, allegedly by Trinamool men.
“In fact, around an hour after this tweet, one Abhijit Sarkar of Beliaghata was brutally murdered by Trinamool Congress cadres, in which case the culprits have already been sentenced. From the late afternoon of 2nd May 2021 onwards, large-scale organized violence against Bharatiya Janata Party workers was unleashed, which resulted in huge number of rapes, murders, physical assaults, grievous hurts, sexual molestation of women, extortion and arson throughout West Bengal, of which the Hon’ble High Court had also taken cognizance,” Sen says in his complaint letter.
“It appears that another film actress namely Swastika Mukherjee had endorsed such instigation and abatement of organized violence against BJP workers and supporters at large.
“Parambrata Chatterjee and Swastika Mukherjee being well-known film personalities, were, as on 2nd May 2021, in the position of influencing public mind; and such instigation and abatement by them for violence against workers / supporters of Bharatiya Janata Party, had the effect of encouraging and abating the criminals harboured by the Trinamool Congress Party to go on a genocidal mayhem against BJP workers without any impunity, which resulted in so many rapes, murders and other large scale violence.”
Sources said the police were contemplating registering an FIR.
Deputy commissioner (south east division) Saikat Ghosh said officers of Gariahat police station have received the complaint. “We are looking into it,” Ghosh said.
The CBI took up the probe into Sarkar’s killing in 2021 and named several Trinamool functionaries, then MLA Paresh Pal and three police personnel as accused in the case. There was no reference to Parambrata or Swastika in the CBI’s documents filed before the court.
In the run-up to the 2021 elections, a group of prominent Bengali actors, including Parambrata, veteran theatre practitioners and musicians featured in a music video, which was a resounding critique of fascism, divisive politics and suppression of dissent in India. Nijeder Mawte Nijeder Gaan became a protest anthem with references to the BJP, generating huge traction online and offline.
Parambrata featured in the video.
Asked about the video after it was released, BJP leader Dilip Ghosh had bluntly told artistes to stick to singing and dancing. “Na hole rogre debo (otherwise, we will rub them out),” he had warned.
Parambrata’s post was a dig at that threat, said many.
Though he was not part of the Trinamool camp, per se, for a long time, Parambrata had always been vocal against the Right-wing. “As far as I am concerned, there is a line and on one side are all the other political parties — whom, of course, I can criticise if I want — and on the other side is the far Right. I would do anything — support any of the other parties — to keep out the far Right,” he had told this newspaper in August 2021.
But with time, he was seen hosting the Kolkata International Film Festival, a project of Mamata Banerjee.
Parambrata was also vocal against the powerful technicians’ federation — headed by Swarup Biswas, brother of former Trinamool minister and heavyweight Aroop Biswas — for ruining Bengal’s film industry.
He was one of the petitioners in a PIL alleging the federation’s continued interference with the independent functioning of directors. Eventually, most petitioners, including Parambrata, withdrew from the case. He was also allegedly forced to apologise to the federation.
He was seen as warming up to the Trinamool since about a year ago. In the just-concluded elections, he had campaigned for the Trinamool, criticising the BJP for the mass deletion of voters from the revised electoral rolls.
Swastika participated in more than one protest against Trinamool. Like many other members of the culture clan, she took to the streets after the rape and murder of the doctor at RG Kar hospital in 2024.
Swastika faced significant online trolling. Some targeted her for promoting her film Tekka during the protests. She strongly defended herself, affirming that she has the fundamental right to protest and speak out. She was also part of the protests against the alleged police excess on Jadavpur University students in 2014.
Calls and messages to Parambrata and Swastika on Thursday night went unanswered.