KK concert shadow on TMC lingers as Saugata questions college fest funds

KK passed away in the city on May 31 at the age of 53. He was in Kolkata for two-day concerts, and took ill while performing at Gurudas College’s annual fest at Nazrul Manch. He was rushed to CMRI Hospital, where doctors said the singer died of a suspected heart attack.

As videos of KK’s final concert went viral in social media showing overcrowding at the venue, questions were raised over mismanagement and various lapses at the state-run Nazrul Manch, which could have played a role in the popular singer’s death.

The TMCP unit of Gurudas College, which controls its students union, has maintained that the college institution and its students had funded the fest and not the students’ body.

However, Roy’s comment came clearly as an attack on the students unions in colleges which play a key role in organising various cultural events or annual fests for students. The TMCP holds control over the students unions in most of the colleges and universities across the state.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the colleges in Bengal had not organised such events or fests over the last two years. It was only since last month that the colleges started organising them. In the wake of KK’s death after his concert marking a college fest, the spotlight has been on students’ unions and the huge money spent to organise such musical events. A day before he died, KK had also performed at at Nazrul Manch at the Vidyasagar College fest, which was also organised by the TMCP-controlled students union.

Following Roy’s stinging remarks, TMCP state president Trinankur Bhattacharya said, “I have sent details of the expenditure to the senior MP (Saugata Roy). He is a veteran party leader. I think there was some misunderstanding on his part. I have given him all the details and he is satisfied with my feedback.”

Bhattacharya also claimed, “Students’ unions did not fund the fests. The colleges had not organised social events for last three years. The token money which was taken from every student to organise the fest (for last three years) were deposited in a bank account. An event management company was contacted and we paid the money directly from the account to it. A total of Rs 20 lakh and 50 thousand were spent in organising the two fests.”

Roy’s comments however set off a political controversy in the state. The principal Opposition BJP’s state president Sukanta Majumdar alleged that the TMCP-affiliated student bodies indulge in “extortion” to organise such fests. “The TMCP engages in display of money power at college fests. Everyone knows that it collects huge cash by illegal means. A senior TMC MP like Saugata Roy has raised this issue but we wonder why he remained silent all these years,” he said.