KOLKATA: “There was no need to fire bullets to control the crowd located far away from Writers’ Buildings,” CM Suvendu Adhikari read out from the Sushanta Chatterjee Commission’s report on the police firing on a Mamata Banerjee-led Youth Congress rally on July 21, 1993, that led to the death of 12 activists (a 13th person is still missing).The report said the “apprehension of an attack on Writers’ Buildings was imaginary” and the firing was “worse than the Jallianwala Bagh massacre”.The commission was set up by the erstwhile Trinamool regime and the report was filed in Dec 2024. It was tabled in the assembly by the CM on Monday, on the eve of the 33rd anniversary of the firing, which will be observed separately by two factions of Trinamool as well as Congress in Kolkata. The breakaway Trinamool MPs who are now in NCPI will hold a prayer meeting in Delhi’s Rajghat. The July 21 ‘Martyrs’ Day’ rally has been a showpiece event of Trinamool, which till last year was held in front of Victoria House in Esplanade.
Promises Compensation, Help To File FIR
The CM said, “The commission conclusively found that the firing was unnecessary and unprovoked.”Former CM Banerjee was leading the 1993 rally, which demanded that voter ID cards be made mandatory to ensure fair polls, as Bengal president of Youth Congress. Accusing her of sitting on the panel’s recommendations for nearly two years, the CM said, “If you (the families of the dead and more than 50 activists who were injured) want to file a fresh FIR, this govt will give you that opportunity.”On the panel’s recommendation that each bereaved family be paid a compensation of Rs 25 lakh, Adhikari said, “I will give that money from the CM Relief Fund.” His advice to the martyrs’ kin: “Stay away from those who used you to become MPs, MLAs and CM, travelled by chartered flight and helicopter, went to Dubai and Singapore, and availed of medical treatment in the US.”Adhikari also told the House that the govt has “a lot more information” on the issue and will “publish it as and when required”.CM Adhikari referred to a 2015 TOI report which said the late Pankaj Banerjee, a founder member of Trinamool who later left the party, had refused to testify before the commission, but told reporters that then home secretary Manish Gupta was responsible for the firing. Gupta joined Trinamool after retiring from service and was a member of the first Mamata Banerjee cabinet from 2011 to 2016.Referring to the fact that the commission did not blame Gupta, the CM said, “It is quite apparent why the commission could not hold him responsible. The commission did it under the direction of the powers that be.”Questioning Trinamool’s intent, Adhikari said, “Those who died or were injured are eligible to receive compensation because they suffered for participating in a movement. The commission recommended that those who died be regarded as martyrs. The commission also recommended that Rs 25 lakh be given to the family of each victim identified after post-mortem and Rs 5 lakh to each injured. And what have you done? You gave Rs 2 lakh to each bereaved family and Rs 15,000 to each injured. Don’t you feel ashamed?”Several IPS officers, including then Kolkata Police commissioner Tushar Talukdar, were indicted in the report, with the commission finding them “jointly and severally liable.” It also recommended action against the officers based on the doctrine of joint liability. Talukdar, who passed away in Jan 2024, had deposed before the commission that he was in the Lalbazar control room on July 21, 1993, and did not order the firing.The commission inferred that “all officials deposing on oath denied giving the firing order, but there was police firing which killed 12 and injured over 50 Congress men”.Former CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who was home minister at that time, told the commission that it was a collective decision of Left Front not to order a judicial probe. The commission criticised the LF govt for the firing.Speaking to reporters outside the assembly, the CM said, “(Retired judge) Sushanta Chatterjee himself is saying that his commission was not given any information from Writers’ Buildings… The biggest of all witnesses — Mamata Banerjee — did not appear before the commission.”Trinamool did not immediately react to the CM’s allegations. Party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said, “Mamata Banerjee herself was injured that day. No less than 13 people died —12 bodies could be traced and one could not be found. Over 100 people were injured. The LF govt and its administrative apparatus had fired on protesters demanding voter ID cards.”