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Journalism of Courage
Whether sobbing profusely while offering prayers at a Kali puja or getting into trouble for mimicking Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankar, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Kalyan Banerjee has often found himself in the news for unflattering reasons.
On Tuesday, Banerjee was suspended for one day from the Joint Committee of Parliament on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill after he smashed a glass bottle during a heated exchange with BJP MP Abhijit Gangopadhyay. In the process, Banerjee hurt his thumb and index finger and had to be given first aid.
A TMC MP from Serampore in the Hooghly district, Banerjee first won an Assembly election back in 2001 from Asansol Uttar. He lost in 2006, and by 2009, had moved on to Parliament. With his win in the recent Lok Sabha polls, he is now a four-time MP from Serampore.
Alongside, Banerjee has proved a useful advocate for his party when it comes to tricky legal cases, representing it in various high-profile suits in the Calcutta High Court, where he has practised since 1981. Among the cases he has handled are the Rizwanur Rahman case (who was allegedly driven to suicide by his influential Hindu in-laws), the Nandigram and Singur land agitations – all of which helped the TMC’s rise against the Left Front – and the Chhota Angaria massacre of TMC activists. Kalyan also took up the Bhikari Paswan case, involving a custodial death.
Even before the TMC came to power, Banerjee often made news. In 2009, he attributed CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s frequent visits to a film and cultural centre to his affinity for Scotch whiskey.
In 2015, senior BJP leader and then in-charge of the party’s affairs in West Bengal, Siddharth Nath Singh, sent Banerjee a legal notice over allegedly defamatory and libellous statements not just against him but also his family members.
During Dhankhar’s rocky tenure as West Bengal Governor (2019-2022), Banerjee was often the prime instigator from the TMC side. On May 7, 2021, after Dhankar sanctioned the prosecution of TMC ministers based on a request by the CBI, Kalyan said: “He is a bloodsucker. He is trying to suck the blood of the Trinamool Congress.” Days later, the TMC MP threatened to move against Dhankhar after he was no longer the Governor and did not enjoy legal immunity.
In the past few years, Banerjee has been seen as the voice of the old brigade in the TMC, chafing at the rise of Abhishek Banerjee as Mamata’s heir apparent. In January 2022, he criticised what was highlighted as ‘the Diamond Harbour model’, named after the constituency of Abhishek, in fighting Covid-19. “Why were football tournaments organised by the MP in Diamond Harbour at the start of the New Year if he was serious about Covid management?” Kalyan said in a direct attack on Abhishek.
Last December, Banerjee was once again in the eye of a storm over a video from the Parliament complex showing him, surrounded by other suspended Opposition MPs, ostensibly mimicking the Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, who described the act as “shameful, ridiculous and unacceptable”. The incident occurred against the backdrop of protests by the Opposition over a discussion on the December 13 Parliament security breach and against the subsequent record-high suspension in both Houses.
But Banerjee insisted that he would repeat the act a thousand times since it is his fundamental right. “Mimicry is an art form. It is my fundamental right to express my views. The right to dissent and protest is also a fundamental right. You can put me in jail for this but I will not step back,” said Banerjee, adding, “I did the mimicry but later I came to know that it became a big deal. But the first act of mimicry I saw in the Lok Sabha was by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. When he did it, we laughed it off. We took the matter sportingly. They are crying hoarse over mimicry.”
During his Lok Sabha campaign earlier this year in Serampore, he drew flak for his clashes with his rival CPI(M) candidate Dipsita Dhar, national joint secretary of the CPI(M)’s students wing and a PhD scholar at JNU. After Dhar referred to Banerjee as “Mr India”, claiming the people of Serampore hadn’t seen him since he won the 2019 election, Banerjee questioned her academic credentials, calling her “Miss Universe”. He also made derogatory comments on Dhar’s complexion, saying she “doesn’t campaign in the evening as people won’t be able to see her.”
Banerjee is among the 13 Opposition MPs in the 31-member committee, headed by BJP member Jagdambika Pal, that has been tasked by the Lok Sabha to scrutinise the contentious Waqf (Amendment) Bill, which has drawn protests from the Opposition parties and Muslim organisations.
