Kolkata, March 7 – Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, on Saturday criticised Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after President Droupadi Murmu expressed displeasure over the state government allocating a smaller venue for the 9th International Santal Conference at Gossaipur in the Darjeeling district, where she was the chief guest.
Using his X handle, Adhikari said, "The farce unfolding in West Bengal today is a damning verdict on Mamata Banerjee's crumbling empire; a brazen assault on Constitutional sanctity and Tribal dignity."
Earlier in the day, the President's event was initially scheduled to be held at Phansidewa in the same district. However, the organizers had to shift the venue at the last moment to a smaller location at Gossaipur after the state administration reportedly denied permission for the programme at Phansidewa on security grounds.
President Murmu expressed displeasure over the last-minute change in the venue. She also pointed out that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee or any of her Cabinet colleagues did not meet her during her visit to the state, which she said was against established traditions and protocols whenever the President visits a place.
Extending his support to the President, Adhikari said, "In a spectacle that shatters every norm of protocol, our esteemed President, Smt. Droupadi Murmu Ji was left to voice her rare and justified dismay over the shoddy arrangements and glaring snubs during her Siliguri visit. No Red Carpet of respect, no state machinery in sight, just the hollow echoes of TMC Govt's disdain."
Further attacking Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the development, the BJP leader said, "Worse still, the Mamata Banerjee Administration stonewalled the International Santhali Conclave; an event graced by the Hon'ble President herself as the Chief Guest. Permission denied? Or simply sabotaged through neglect? A deliberate erasure of Santhali voices and heritage. And where was Mamata Banerjee or her Cabinet Ministers? Nowhere to be seen, no protocol observed, no courtesy extended. The Highest Office of the land, reduced to an afterthought."
According to him, this was not an oversight rather an orchestrated contempt. "Peel back the layers, and it reeks of Mamata Banerjee's unmasked Anti-Tribal venom. Remember how she queued up in the Vidhansabha to cast her vote against Smt. Droupadi Murmu Ji in the Presidential polls? She couldn't stomach it then and still can't now, that for the first time since Independence, a resilient Tribal Woman has claimed the pinnacle of our Republic," he added.
Adhikari said that West Bengal's Chief Minister has "devolved into Bengal's divider; Anti-Tribal to her core, allergic to accountability, and architect of institutional anarchy. Time for change. Time for dignity."