The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has approached the Calcutta High Court over the removal of a billboard, or signboard, from party leader Abhishek Banerjee’s office on Camac Street in Kolkata. TMC lawyer Kishore Dutta filed a petition with the court on Friday morning. Justice Raja Basu Chowdhury has granted permission to file a case over the matter.
On Thursday, officials from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation removed a large signboard from the rooftop of Abhishek Banerjee’s party office on Camac Street. Municipal officials claim the signboard had been installed illegally. TMC alleges that municipal officials forcibly climbed to the office rooftop with police and removed and damaged the signboard.
Abhishek Banerjee’s office is on the seventh floor of a building on Camac Street. Abhishek, TMC Rajya Sabha member Derek O’Brien and party leader Baishwanar Chattopadhyay were present when the signboard was removed Thursday afternoon. TMC alleges that although they objected, municipal officials and police paid no attention.
Expressing anger after the incident, Abhishek Banerjee asked: “Is the police doing the BJP’s bidding?” He alleged that police and municipal officials had illegally entered a political party’s office and carried out what he called “torture” there. After the signboard was removed, however, a new banner bearing Abhishek’s office name was put up.
Central Deputy Education Minister and BJP leader Sukanta Majumdar countered TMC’s allegations. He said municipal officials and staff had gone there to demolish an illegal structure, and alleged that Abhishek had engaged in “thuggery” against them. Sukanta said: “Now they’ve gotten scared.”
CPM central committee member Sujan Chakraborty also criticized the incident. He said no operation of this kind should be carried out at any political party’s office. He said that even if there were complaints against TMC, creating such a situation was not appropriate. He added that by putting on a show of conflict, Abhishek Banerjee is effectively giving TMC political oxygen.
Following the party’s rout in the last assembly election, TMC’s internal crisis has deepened. After the party’s poor performance in the recent assembly election, rifts and rebellion have emerged within TMC. A section of the party’s legislators have taken a stand against Mamata Banerjee’s leadership and formed a separate group, led by former party leader Ritabrata Banerjee.
Divisions have also emerged within TMC in the Lok Sabha. Several of the party’s MPs have distanced themselves from TMC and are sitting separately. There is also a dispute over whether the Lok Sabha speaker has formally recognized their new political grouping, a matter now the subject of a legal battle.
Amid this political turmoil, the removal of the signboard from Abhishek Banerjee’s office has once again brought the TMC-BJP political conflict to the fore.