The saffron camp in Bengal tore into the ruling Trinamool Congress by highlighting a week-old incident of Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) workers burning a photo of Rabindranath Tagore in Malda during a protest against attacks on Bengali-speaking migrants in BJP-ruled states.
BJP state chief Samik Bhattacharya and Union minister of state Sukanta
Majumdar flagged the incident on social media, tossing questions at Mamata Banerjee’s party playing the Bengali “oshmita” card on the issue of migrant workers, Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, took to the streets of Calcutta on Monday.
Adhikari, along with other party leaders and supporters, held a march to Rabindra Sadan while shouting slogans against Trinamool for “denigrating” Tagore. He, however, could not move into Rabindra Sadan to garland the poet’s statue as intended as he was stopped by the authorities.
“Trinamool has insulted Rabindranath Tagore. It’s a shame, and we will not tolerate it. This shows the hollowness of the tall talks by its party leaders who pretend to be sincere about protecting Bengal’s rich culture. Steps should be taken against all those involved in this reprehensible act,” said Adhikari.
Sources said that on September 1, the TMCP organised a protest against the BJP and the Centre near the Chanchal College of Malda, where photos of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah were burnt.
Some TMCP workers were recorded burning a photo of Tagore. The video went viral on social media, with BJP leaders Majumdar and Bhattacharya sharing the clip on social media.
Error, says TMCP
The TMCP called it an inadvertent error that the BJP was exaggerating, but appeared to be on the backfoot. On Monday evening, state TMCP chief Trinankur Bhattacharjee issued a notice that A.B. Sohail, a TMCP member, was suspended for “disrespecting Rabindranath Tagore”.
Prasun Roy, the district TMCP president, said the protest outside Chanchal College was held against the move to dismantle a dais of Trinamool from where the ruling party was regularly organising demonstrations against “atrocities” faced by the Bengali-speaking migrant workers in other states.
“The TMCP’s protesters were carrying photographs of Tagore, Swami Vivekananda, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Iswarchandra Vidyasagar. Later, they held an event to burn the photos of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah,” said Roy.
“At that point of time, one of our workers mistakenly tried to burn a photo of Tagore. But as soon as he realised the mistake, he removed the photo. Tagore’s photo got mildly damaged, and we unequivocally apologise for it,” he added.
The BJP, he said, was exaggerating the “inadvertent error”.
“We are holding an organisational probe into the incident. The BJP has become politically bankrupt and is thus flagging such issues,” said the TMCP president.
Ajit Biswas, the teacher-in-charge of Chanchal College, said although the protests occurred outside the college campus, “no words were enough to condemn the incident”.
The TMCP notice stated that the unit at the Chanchal College had been dissolved.
