Bengal: President criticises Trinamool government for allotting smaller event venue

President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday criticised the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal for allocating a smaller venue for an event she addressed in Darjeeling district.

She also expressed displeasure about Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and state ministers not following the conventions of a presidential visit.

Murmu was in the state to participate in the ninth International Santal Conference, the venue of which was changed, The Telegraph reported.

The organisers of the event had preferred a field in Bidhannagar in the district, the newspaper reported. However, the administration allegedly denied permission and the event was held at Gosainpur near Bagdogra in Siliguri.

Addressing the conference, Murmu said: “I was watching many Santals are outside. I feel somebody is stopping them from entering. While on the way I couldn’t help wondering, is this an international conference? Some do not want the Santal to stand united, stand strong.”

After the event, Murmu travelled to Bidhannagar and spoke with residents without using a dais. She said that the venue in Bidhannagar would have been better suited for the conference.

“I don’t know what happened to the administration,” Murmu said. “We came here quite easily. They had told us this place is congested. I feel five lakh people could have gathered here. I don’t know why they took us there. Not many of our brothers and sisters from here could attend.”

“I don’t know what went through the administration’s mind that they chose a place [for the conference] where the Santal people couldn’t go...” Murmu said in Bidhannagar.

“Perhaps they [the administration] had hoped that no one would be able to attend, and the president would simply turn around and leave...” ANI quoted her as having alleged.

She said that when the president visits a place, the chief minister and the state ministers should attend the event. Banerjee was not there, Murmu said.

“Mamata didi is my sister, my younger sister,” Murmu said. “Maybe she is angry with me. So the programme was made to happen there…But it’s okay, I wish her well.”

Banerjee was on Saturday reportedly holding a protest in Kolkata against the Election Commission’s special intensive revision of the state’s electoral rolls.

Responding to Murmu’s comments, Banerjee asked if the president was aware how many names had been removed from the voter list in Bengal, ANI reported.

Banerjee added that the Bharatiya Janata Party had never thought about minorities.

“You didn’t say anything about the Scheduled Castes, Buddhists, Punjabis, Parsis, Jains or even Hindus,” ANI quoted Banerjee as saying. “You know how to do politics. We don't know how to do politics.”

The chief minister said that he will ask her party leaders to seek an appointment from the president to submit a list of the work carried out by the Trinamool Congress government for the Adivasis.

Later, Banerjee said that the ninth International Adivasi Santal Conference in Siliguri had been organised by the International Santal Council, which had invited the president.

She said that after an Advanced Security Liaison meeting, the district administration had informed the President’s Secretariat in writing that the organisers appeared inadequately prepared for the event. The concern was also conveyed over the phone, she added.

According to Banerjee, the President’s Secretariat’s advance team visited the venue on March 5 and was informed about the lack of arrangements, but the programme continued as scheduled.

She also said that the president had been received and seen off by the mayor of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation, the district magistrate of Darjeeling district and the police commissioner of the Siliguri Police Commissionerate in accordance with the protocol shared by the President’s Secretariat.

Banerjee added that she was not part of the approved lineup or the dais plan for the event and asserted that there had been no protocol lapse on the part of the district administration.

“BJP is disrespecting and misusing the highest chair in the country for its own party agenda,” she said. “Most unfortunate.”

PM, Opposition criticises Trinamool

Describing the incident as “shameful and unprecedented” Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleged that the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal was responsible for the “insult” to the president.

“Everyone who believes in democracy and the empowerment of [Adivasi] communities is disheartened,” Modi said. “The pain and anguish expressed by Rashtrapati Ji, who herself hails from a [Adivasi] community, has caused immense sadness in the minds of the people of India.”

BJP leader Amit Malviya said that the incident points to “a complete collapse of the constitutional framework under the Mamata Banerjee government”.

Malviya, who is in charge of the Hindutva party in the state, said that it was shocking that the state government had allegedly denied permission for the conference in which the president was the chief guest.

“When a state government begins to disregard the dignity of the office of the president of India, it reflects not just administrative failure but a breakdown of constitutional propriety and governance,” he said on social media.

Malviya said that the incident was “not merely discourtesy” but an “institutional disrespect and another reminder of how governance in Bengal has descended into chaos”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the incident was “shameful and unprecedented”.

“The TMC government of West Bengal has truly crossed all limits,” he said on social media. “Their administration is responsible for this insult to the president.”

The anguish expressed by the president “has caused immense sadness” among the people, Modi said.

He alleged that Santal culture had been “treated so casually” by the state government.

The office of the president is above politics and the sanctity of this office should always be respected, Modi added.

Trinamool Congress spokesperson Arup Chakraborty told The Indian Express that the “situation was created” because of the Election Commission.

“Our chief minister is now fighting for the people’s rights,” he said. “We know our president is a very good human and she would understand the compulsion of Mamata Banerjee.”

West Bengal is expected to hold Assembly elections in April or May.