BJP LEADER Mukul Roy on Saturday alleged that Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee had applied for Biswa Bangla and Jago Bangla trademarks with the approval and at the behest of his aunt, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. This comes days after a Alipurduar court passed an interim injunction order against Roy, stopping him from making any further statements linking Abhishek to the Biswa Bangla Marketing Corporation — a company owned by the state government — and Jago Bangla Media Private Limited, which publishes the Trinamool mouthpiece. The court had said that it did not find any “traceable or valid links” between Abhishek and the two companies. Speaking to mediapersons at the BJP office in Kolkata, Roy said: “The judge has passed a certain restricting order. Though I haven’t been served the official papers. I have the operative part of the order, which says that I cannot refer to Abhishek Banerjee with respect to Biswa Bangla Marketing Corporation Limited and Jago Bangla Media Private Limited. The order also observes that it cannot be said that Abhishek Banerjee has any traceable and valid link (with the companies). But I have documents to prove that there are links. And if there are traceable or valid links, then nobody has restricted me (from making statements).” “On November 10 (at a rally in Kolkata), I had said that Abhishek was the owner of these trademarks. In his affidavit (to the court), however, Abhishek says that he has not done anything himself, but that the applications for the trademarks were made at the behest of the chief minister, Trinamool president Mamata Banerjee. What he has done, he has done with her approval, he says,” he added. “His (Abhishek) affidavit says that ‘the petitioner, in 2013, had applied for registration of these trademarks to protect them from being misused’. I am not saying this, Abhishek is saying this in his affidavit.,” alleged Roy, who was accompanied by Union Minister Babul Supriyo, state BJP president Dilip Ghosh and Bengal party in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya. “I have the document where Abhishek Banerjee had applied for registration of the trademarks under clauses 33 and 41 (of Trade Marks Act-1999). Government officials have claimed that the applications were submitted by someone else with a ‘malafide intent’. If this is so, why has the government not taken action against them? And if you consider what the government has said about the affidavit, he (Abhishek) is in effect saying that he is the one who applied for the trademark with a malafide intent at the chief minister’s behest. If there is malafide intent, they should be in jail,” he added. Displaying a certificate of the Jago Bangla trademark, Roy said: “Who owns this trademark? This certificate proves that Abhishek Banerjee owns it. address given here is 30/B Harish Chatterjee Street, Kolkata: 26.” The address is of Mamata and Abhishek’s residence in Kolkata. Roy then proceeded to show an application for the trademark of Trinamool slogan ‘Maa Mati Manush’. Alleging that Abhishek has registered the party’s catchline in his name, he said: “This is a question of ethics. The Trinamool Congress belongs to lakhs of people and has lakhs of supporters. They should also know what is going on. that they (Banerjees) are trying to capture the party symbol. Isn’t this a violation of the Constitution?” Taking on state Minister Partha Chatterjee, Roy said: “Advertisements of Naktala Sporting Club show companies like MPS, Vibgyor and Prayag as its corporate partners. These are chit funds companies, recognised by SEBI. Partha Chatterjee is the chairman (of the club). I have news clippings and photographs of Chatterjee with the Prayag owner, saying that Prayag has done good work in the districts.” Reiterating that his phones have been tapped by the state government, he said: “Phones of all BJP leaders have been tapped, including mine, Kailashji's and Babul Supriyo’s. I can assure you that all your phones have been tapped. Whenever we raise an issue, they (government) try to use the courts and the police to shut us up. But we will not remain quiet.” “Our job as the Opposition is to raise issues about the government and its officers when they are not functioning appropriately. In a few days, I will release a video that shows a Trinamool politician’s son owning that his father has committed murder.,” he alleged. Vijayvargiya said BJP as a party was standing by Roy’s allegations. “We will go to court. we will go to the public and expose them. This is just the beginning. Keep watching. one after another, how we expose the workings of Trinamool leaders.,” he claimed.
