Bengal Cong leader gets police knock at night, held for remarks on Mamata

Kolkata Police sources said an FIR had been filed against Bagchi by a TMC supporter at Burtolla police station around 10.30 pm Friday, soon after Bagchi held a press conference to counter Mamata’s remarks against West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

Mamata had made a personal attack on Chowdhury, bringing up his daughter’s death, while talking about the Sagardighi bypoll in which the Congress defeated TMC.

Hours after the FIR was lodged — under IPC Sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 354 A (sexual harassment), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 505 (act that induces or is likely to induce any person to commit offence against the State or against public tranquillity), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) and 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot) — the police reached the residence of Bagchi, an advocate, at Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas. And after a couple of hours, took him into custody.

“After the bypoll defeat, Mamata Banerjee made some baseless and unfounded allegations against me…talking about my personal life. I did not respond. She has attacked me personally in the past too. I have always told her that she is heading a government, she has the police with her, she can order any investigation. But she will not do that, she will abuse me instead,” Chowdhury said.

“I will not abuse her because my fight with her, my struggle against her is political, ideological and moral. My fight is not personal. I have nothing against her personally. She is the Chief Minister of West Bengal and I will not say anything which hurts her dignity and status, and disrespects the post that she is occupying. She can abuse me. That is up to her,” he said, adding that his “fight against her will continue”.

At a press conference on Friday, where he took on the CM over her remarks against Chowdhury, Bagchi had mentioned a book critical of the TMC by the party’s former MLA, IAS officer Dipak Ghosh. “If TMC makes such personal attacks, we will also circulate this book and attack the Chief Minister personally,” Bagchi had said.

“He (Bagchi) made those remarks on his own. I never asked him to say anything against her… In fact, I had told him not to hold the press conference. But he thought we should also protest because she always abuses us. He has already apologised for that,” said Chowdhury. “We condemn his arrest. It is a gross misuse of power. Jaise Modi kar rahe hain, waise Didi kar rahi hai (Didi is acting like Modi). It can at best be a case of defamation — a civil case,” he said.

Chowdhury said Bagchi had mentioned a book that is available in the market. “Mamata Banerjee has not banned that book. But the contents of that book are not talked about much because in Bengal politics, we never get personal. There can be adversaries in politics but not enemies.”

“Since that book is not banned and Mamata Banerjee has not filed a defamation case against its author, our spokesperson perhaps thought he should hit back at her because she always abuses us and levels all sorts of allegations against us. The issue is Mamata Banerjee is rattled because of the bypoll defeat,” Chowdhury said.

“The mother-like Chief Minister is afraid of the son-like Koustav Bagchi. That is my political win. I will fight her in court and on the streets,” said Bagchi, 32.

His father Kushal Bagchi said police came to their house around 3 am. “They did not have proper documents or an arrest warrant,” he said. “When my son challenged them, they brought those documents and ultimately, at 8 am, almost forcefully arrested Koustav and took him to Kolkata.”

“This government has crossed even its dictatorial limits. It has become a terrorist government,” he said.

Even some TMC leaders admitted that the police may have crossed a line. While most of them questioned Bagchi’s remarks, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said: “I oppose the arrest. It will only help Bagchi and the Opposition. Koustav was wrong, and has a tendency to speak rudely. But our student wing could have answered the same politically. The police operation will have a negative impact.” Ghosh said this was his personal opinion.

Meanwhile, Opposition parties across the board criticised the police action. BJP leader Locket Chatterjee said, “There is no democracy in Bengal. Whoever protests against this government faces police atrocities.”

Leader of Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP, said the Congress cannot absolve itself, asking why it had not fielded a candidate against Mamata when she contested from Bhawanipore in a bypoll after losing to Adhikari from Nandigram in the Assembly polls. “The Congress did not put up a nominee to show respect to her. The CM has given her reply to that.”

CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty said: “Is this democracy? We don’t even have words to condemn this. This government is an autocratic government.” The Left had supported the Congress in the Sagardighi bypoll.

The lone MLA of the Indian Secular Front, Naushad Siddiqui, who got bail on Saturday after spending 42 days in custody following a protest, also backed Bagchi. “I don’t know why Bagchi was arrested. But if he has been wronged, then I am on his side. I will fight for him,” Siddiqui said.

Apart from Congress supporters, some advocates also rallied behind Bagchi. “Who gave the police this power that, without any notice, they arrested an advocate? The ruling party can oppose his remarks verbally, but what the administration did is what dictators do,” said CPI(M) MP Bikash Bhattacharya, also an advocate.