Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday made a significant announcement, saying that the report of Justice (Retd.) Sushanta Chatterjee Commission, constituted to probe the police firing incident of July 21, 1993, will be made public. He clarified in the Assembly that the report will be placed before the people of the state a day before the ‘Martyrs’ Day’ rallies. The report was commissioned by the Mamata Banerjee government in 2011 to probe the incident in which 13 people lost their lives at a Youth Congress rally during the then Left Front regime.
The Chief Minister said he would present a complete report detailing which of the Commission’s recommendations have been implemented so far and which were ignored during the past 15 years of Trinamool Congress rule. The report was prepared to delve into the tragic events of 1993, when protesters led by then-Youth Congress President Mamata Banerjee marched toward the Writers’ Building. The report’s release could revive old memories in state politics.
This year, July 21st is expected to be a politically charged day, as various factions of the Trinamool Congress, as well as the Congress, are organizing “Martyrs’ Day” rallies. The faction led by Mamata Banerjee and the faction led by Ritabrata Banerjee, will demonstrate their strength through separate rallies. Each party has its own political interpretation of the 1993 incident, making this year’s Martyrs’ Day more discussed than in previous years.
On July 21, 1993, the Youth Congress’s “Writers’ Buildings Campaign,” demanding mandatory voter ID cards, turned violent in Kolkata. Clashes between protesters and police of the Left Front government led by Jyoti Basu at the time resulted in the death of 13 young people in police firing. This incident gave Mamata Banerjee a new political identity and established it as a major issue. Since then, this day has become a significant part of Bengal politics, remaining at the center of controversy and political memory.
