TMC used Martyrs' Day incident for politics: Suvendu Adhikari tables report
A day before the Trinamool Congress's (TMC) annual Martyrs' Day rally, West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday tabled the long-pending inquiry commission report
A day before the Trinamool Congress's (TMC) annual Martyrs' Day rally, West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday tabled the long-pending inquiry commission report into the July 21, 1993 police firing in the state Assembly, accusing former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of withholding its findings for years, and using the incident for political gains. The report, prepared by the Justice Sushant Banerjee Commission, was constituted by the then Mamata Banerjee government in November 2011 to investigate the police firing on Youth Congress workers during the Mahakaran march on July 21, 1993. The commission submitted its findings in December 2014, but the report was never made public by the TMC government. Read Full Story By tabling the report a day before the TMC's annual Martyrs' Day rally, the BJP government sought to challenge the surrounding narrative of the TMC's most enduring political symbols, shifting attention to questions surrounding the inquiry report, compensation and the handling of the 1993 firing case. Adhikari said the report examined how the incident was subsequently used as a political tool by the TMC for years. He also said the legislature was the appropriate forum to place the findings before the people of West Bengal.
Referring to the timing of the release, the Chief Minister alleged that while the TMC had built its politics around the anniversary of the police firing, it never disclosed what the inquiry commission had concluded. "Tomorrow is July 21. Many have used this day for political power and personal gain. But the people of West Bengal still do not know what happened, why it happened and who was responsible," Adhikari said during his address in the Assembly. He said the commission had examined evidence from 44 witnesses, including former chief ministers, senior bureaucrats, police officers, political leaders, journalists and others connected with the incident before arriving at its conclusions. The Martyrs' Day commemorates the deaths of 13 Youth Congress workers who were killed in police firing during a 1993 march to the Writers' Building, led by Mamata Banerjee, demanding the introduction of photo voter identity cards to ensure fair elections. The Congress initially observed July 21 as Martyrs' Day, but after founding the TMC in 1998, Banerjee turned it into the party's largest annual political mobilisation, drawing supporters from across the state every year. COMMISSION QUESTIONED POLICE FIRING According to Adhikari, the commission concluded that the executive inquiry conducted immediately after the firing was neither fair nor carried out in good faith.
The BriefWire