TMC leaders question party’s ‘silence’ on SFI’s protests against Mamata at Oxford

Trinamool leaders express dissatisfaction over party's silence after SFI activists disrupt Mamata Banerjee's lecture at Oxford University.

A section of Trinamool leaders has expressed dissatisfaction over the party’s rank and file “staying silent” after activists of the Left-wing Students’ Federation of India (SFI) raised slogans against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and disrupted her lecture at Oxford University’s Kellogg College last week.

During the Chief Minister’s address at Oxford University on March 27, SFI activists in the U.K. questioned her about the rape and murder of a doctor at Kolkata’s R. G. Kar Hospital. Ms. Banerjee responded, saying the matter is sub judice and requested protestors “not to make it political.”

Days after the incident, spokesperson and State president of the Trinamool’s IT cell, Debangshu Bhattacharya, asked why the party’s rank and file were quiet and inactive “in a time of war” and why they were waiting for the party leadership to issue directions for action.

“At least members of the Trinamool Congress youth wing staged protests outside certain colleges. But no public representative, senior or junior, has raised their voice or hit the streets to protest this disrespect of the Chief Minister,” he told The Hindu on Tuesday.

Reports of threatening behaviour by Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) leader Amir Alam at Dinhata College in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar district, aimed at his SFI counterparts, emerged a few days after the Oxford University incident. 

“Insulting a Chief Minister is not a small issue. It is very disappointing that this did not spark spontaneous protests among party workers and leaders alike. Whether it is speaking up on social media, making public statements, or taking to the streets to organise a movement against this disrespect, office-bearers and elected representatives at different levels could have done a lot more. They should not wait for the party’s instructions for everything,” Mr. Bhattacharya said.

Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Bandopadhyay, while criticising the SFI for “misbehaving” with the Chief Minister in a foreign land, also expressed dissatisfaction with the Trinamool’s youth wing for allegedly remaining inactive outside of election campaigns.