A file photograph of Union Minister and West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumda.
| Picture Credit score: ANI
Bharatiya Janata Get together (BJP) State President and Union Minister, Sukanta Majumdar, was detained on Friday (June 20, 2025) in Kolkata’s Bhawanipore whereas attempting to fulfill an NRI physician who had protested throughout Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s go to to Kellogg Faculty in the UK earlier this yr.
Chaos unfolded in Bhawanipore on Friday afternoon as Mr. Majumdar tried making his means by Harish Mukherjee Street in South Kolkata’s Bhawanipore to fulfill Dr. Rajat Subhra Banerjee at his residence. At first, Mr Majumdar’s automobile was stopped on his means. Then, from amidst a big crowd of BJP supporters and media personnel, he and Dr Rajat had been detained and brought to the Kolkata Police headquarters at Lalbazar in a police automobile.
“Dr. Rajat’s home is situated on 186C Harish Mukherjee Street, adjoining the residence of Trinamool’s Abhishek Banerjee. The physician had requested the Chief Minister sure questions throughout her go to to Kellogg Faculty. Since his return to Kolkata, some mafia-like medical doctors and folks claiming to signify the West Bengal Medical Council have been harassing him,” the Union Minister mentioned after his detainment.
The BJP legislator mentioned that the physician had invited him to his home for tea, and accused the police of blocking his automobile from approaching the physician’s home and jamming the street for hours.
“In the present day, once I went to go to Dr. Banerjee at his residence, I used to be blocked by the spineless, servile Kolkata Police — appearing on Mamata Banerjee’s direct orders. This isn’t merely disgraceful — it’s a blatant assault on private liberty and the basic rights assured in a democracy,” Mr. Majumder later wrote on X.
Dr. Rajat was launched from Lalbazar hours later. After leaving the Kolkata Police headquarters, he instructed mediapersons that he’s a British passport holder and an Abroad Citizen of India, and he would take authorized motion towards the police for “bodily assaulting him”.
“My home is behind Abhishek Banerjee’s home. That’s the reason we weren’t allowed to enter. I’ve lived out of the country for 25 years, and I’ve not skilled one thing like this. I felt sick and panic-stricken once they captured me and put me in a police automobile like I used to be a petty thief. I merely wished to fulfill a buddy,” Dr. Rajat mentioned after his launch.
He alleged that he’s being ‘focused’ for asking the Chief Minister questions throughout her go to to the College of Oxford.
Reacting to the developments, Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh mentioned that Dr. Rajat might have waited until the tip of the Chief Minister’s tackle at Kellogg Faculty and requested his questions later, “as an alternative of disrupting her speech”.
“We consider in a democracy. In any other case, I might have demanded that he be thrown out of Bengal. Interrupting a Chief Minister throughout her speech can’t be known as dissent; it’s uncivil behaviour. The physician misbehaved; he must be socially boycotted… his friendship with Sukanta Majumder proves that these so-called protestors are raam-baam dalal (BJP-Left brokers),” Mr. Ghosh mentioned.
Printed – June 21, 2025 07:17 am IST