Publishing Mamata-era report, BJP joins a four-way tug-of-war over Bengal Shahid Diwas
For decades, the July 21 Shahid Diwas or Martyrs' Day was the Trinamool Congress's biggest annual show of strength. This year, the Shahid Diwas has turned into a four-way tug-of-war. The three TMC camps and the Congress are staking claim, while the Bengal BJP government has joined in by releasing a long-pending report.
For years, July 21 in Kolkata unfolded much the same way. The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) celebrating the day exclusively. Lakhs of Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers would descend on the city. Mamata would address the party's biggest annual rally as rivals watched the show of strength. And the Shahid Diwas would end with her announcing a roadmap for the future.
This year, however, things are different. There's poriborton! The first Martyrs' Day or Shahid Diwas after the 2026 Assembly election that brought the BJP to power in West Bengal has turned into a four-way contest. The sides are the Mamata-Abhishek-led TMC faction, the Ritabrata Banerjee-led rebel MLAs' faction, the Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar-led camp of 20 MPs that merged with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) not many knew of and the Congress.
But the most important player is the BJP government of CM Suvendu Adhikari. The only player now in control of the game might have opened a Pandora's box. It's made itself a stakeholder by tabling the enquiry report, announcing compensation for the families of the victims killed in police firing in 1993, and questioning the TMC government's handling of the case.
The Shahid Diwas traces its origins to July 21, 1993, when 13 Youth Congress workers were killed in police firing during a march to Writers' Buildings led by Mamata Banerjee, then the state Youth Congress president. They were marching to demand that voter identity cards become the sole mandatory document for voting.
The Congress declared the day as Martyrs' Day in memory of those 13 killed during the Left Front government. But after Mamata Banerjee broke away in 1997, formed the TMC, and defeated the CPI(M)-led government, the annual observance became inseparable from the TMC's political identity.
Three decades later, the legacy of those 13 deaths is being claimed by multiple political players. The Congress insists the movement belonged to the Youth Congress. The Mamata and Ritabrata camps are holding separate commemorations while battling over the "real" Trinamool Congress. And the BJP government has entered the ring by tabling an enquiry commission report, asking some tough questions.
FROM CONGRESS PROTEST TO TMC'S BIGGEST POLITICAL EVENT
The July 21 movement began as a Congress agitation against the then Left Front government. On July 21, 1993, thousands of Youth Congress workers marched towards Writers' Buildings in Kolkata. Police opened fire during the protest, killing 13 people and injuring many others.
When Mamata Banerjee founded the Trinamool Congress in 1998, she carried the memory of July 21 with her. Over the years, the annual Martyrs' Day rally evolved into the TMC's largest political mobilisation.
According to a PTI report, the rally became "a grand annual showcase of political power", featuring "lakhs of supporters, high-profile defections from rival camps and declarations of future battle plans". Announcements of strategy, celebrity appearances and cultural programmes became recurring features of the event. But the result of the 2026 Assembly election upended that tradition.
A SPLINTERED TMC IS NOW FIGHTING OVER THE SAME LEGACY
This year's observance is unprecedented because the TMC itself is divided.
The Ritabrata Banerjee-led faction, which claims majority support among TMC MLAs and has approached the Election Commission seeking recognition as the "real" Trinamool Congress, is holding its programme near the Mahatma Gandhi statue on Mayo Road after obtaining police permission.
The Mamata Banerjee faction, denied its traditional venue outside Victoria House, moved the Calcutta High Court, and was eventually permitted to organise its gathering near the Birla Planetarium, a couple of kilometres away.
The event that was used to showcase the organisational unity of the TMC has now become the stage for competing claims over its history and doing justice.
Rejecting the rebels' claim to the party's legacy, Mamata's aide, Chandrima Bhattacharya, (who had stepped down from the chief's post of TMC's woman's wing) insisted there was only one TMC. "We do not believe that there is any faction; we are the Trinamool Congress... What matters is paying tribute to the martyrs and demonstrating our reverence for them," she said.
Veteran TMC leader Kunal Ghosh was even more categorical. "July 21 is synonymous with Mamata Banerjee. It was her movement, her struggle and her sacrifice that gave the day its identity. No one can take that legacy away," he said.
The rebel camp, led by Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata, sees it differently. It's trying to reclaim the legacy of July 21 without entirely disowning Mamata. This comes amid his bid to be the "real" TMC after removing Mamata as party chief and running a parallel party. Ritabrata, a former Rajya Sabha MP, who was earlier the Left's blue-eyed boy, said Mamata would attend the event "if she wished to be a margdarshak (guide)". He insisted that the programme represented the TMC and not any faction.
Thirdly, the Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar-led camp of 20 MPs that merged with Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), will observe July 21 at Rajghat in New Delhi. That's because the MPs are in Delhi for the monsoon session of Parliament.
MARTYRS' DAY: CONGRESS WANTS ITS HISTORY BACK
The Congress has used the split in the TMC to reclaim ownership of July 21. West Bengal Congress president Subhankar Sarkar invited Mamata Banerjee to attend the programme of the Congress at Shahid Minar, only if she acknowledged leaving the Congress was a political mistake.
"If Mamata Banerjee really has the courage, she should not distort history. She should admit that she took a wrong political decision in the past. She is welcome to come to our programme at Shahid Minar and pay tribute to the martyrs," Sarkar said.
"The movement of July 21, 1993 was held under the Youth Congress flag. That is a part of history, and there is no scope to deny it," he said.
Former MP and Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury alleged that the TMC had failed to deliver justice to the families of those killed in the 1993 police firing despite promising to punish those responsible after coming to power. He accused both the TMC and the BJP of misgovernance, saying, "West Bengal is destroyed by Trinamool's misrule and the country is destroyed by Modi's misrule. Both are the heroes and heroines of destruction."
Chowdhury said he would attend a Youth Congress rally at Plassey or Palashi in Murshidabad, where he said he would declare Tamanna and Abhaya as martyrs and demand justice for them. Abhaya is the pseudonym for the junior doctor who was brutally raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata in 2024. Tamanna Khatun was a 10-year-old girl killed in a bomb explosion in Kaliganj during the day of the results of the 2025 bypoll election.
HOW THE BJP HAS ENTERED BENGAL MARTYRS' DAY CONTEST
On the eve of the anniversary of Shahid Diwas, West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari tabled the Justice Sushanta Chatterjee Commission report in the Assembly, accusing the TMC government of suppressing its findings after receiving it in 2024. Adhikari alleged that the TMC government neither implemented recommendations nor adequately compensated the victims' families.
"The commission recommended Rs 25 lakh as compensation for the family of each person killed and Rs 5 lakh for every injured person. But the previous TMC government neither implemented these recommendations nor paid the compensation," he said.
He announced that the BJP government would pay the remaining compensation from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund and allow families to file fresh FIRs with government legal assistance, reported PTI.
Reading portions of the report, Adhikari said the commission concluded that there had been no situation warranting police firing and described the use of force as "unnecessary, unjustified and unprovoked". He also alleged that records connected with the incident had gone missing and questioned why Mamata Banerjee, whom he called the "biggest witness", was never examined despite more than 300 witnesses being heard.
The BJP has simultaneously sought to shape the logistics of this year's commemorations across Kolkata.
So, this Tuesday, Kolkata would see what it hadn't for several decades. It has become a four-way tug-of-war over who owns it.
The Mamata camp wants to prove that its founder commands the emotional loyalty of workers against the Left that commands minimal influence now. The Ritabrata faction hopes to demonstrate that it represents the organisational majority of the TMC. The Congress is attempting to reclaim the movement's original ownership as it was a Youth Congress agitation. And the BJP government is using the enquiry report and compensation announcements to argue that while others built political careers around the tragedy, it is the first administration to act on its findings.
For years, July 21 in Kolkata unfolded much the same way. The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) celebrating the day exclusively. Lakhs of Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers would descend on the city. Mamata would address the party's biggest annual rally as rivals watched the show of strength. And the Shahid Diwas would end with her announcing a roadmap for the future.
This year, however, things are different. There's poriborton! The first Martyrs' Day or Shahid Diwas after the 2026 Assembly election that brought the BJP to power in West Bengal has turned into a four-way contest. The sides are the Mamata-Abhishek-led TMC faction, the Ritabrata Banerjee-led rebel MLAs' faction, the Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar-led camp of 20 MPs that merged with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) not many knew of and the Congress.
But the most important player is the BJP government of CM Suvendu Adhikari. The only player now in control of the game might have opened a Pandora's box. It's made itself a stakeholder by tabling the enquiry report, announcing compensation for the families of the victims killed in police firing in 1993, and questioning the TMC government's handling of the case.
The Shahid Diwas traces its origins to July 21, 1993, when 13 Youth Congress workers were killed in police firing during a march to Writers' Buildings led by Mamata Banerjee, then the state Youth Congress president. They were marching to demand that voter identity cards become the sole mandatory document for voting.
The Congress declared the day as Martyrs' Day in memory of those 13 killed during the Left Front government. But after Mamata Banerjee broke away in 1997, formed the TMC, and defeated the CPI(M)-led government, the annual observance became inseparable from the TMC's political identity.
Three decades later, the legacy of those 13 deaths is being claimed by multiple political players. The Congress insists the movement belonged to the Youth Congress. The Mamata and Ritabrata camps are holding separate commemorations while battling over the "real" Trinamool Congress. And the BJP government has entered the ring by tabling an enquiry commission report, asking some tough questions.
FROM CONGRESS PROTEST TO TMC'S BIGGEST POLITICAL EVENT
The July 21 movement began as a Congress agitation against the then Left Front government. On July 21, 1993, thousands of Youth Congress workers marched towards Writers' Buildings in Kolkata. Police opened fire during the protest, killing 13 people and injuring many others.
When Mamata Banerjee founded the Trinamool Congress in 1998, she carried the memory of July 21 with her. Over the years, the annual Martyrs' Day rally evolved into the TMC's largest political mobilisation.
According to a PTI report, the rally became "a grand annual showcase of political power", featuring "lakhs of supporters, high-profile defections from rival camps and declarations of future battle plans". Announcements of strategy, celebrity appearances and cultural programmes became recurring features of the event. But the result of the 2026 Assembly election upended that tradition.
A SPLINTERED TMC IS NOW FIGHTING OVER THE SAME LEGACY
This year's observance is unprecedented because the TMC itself is divided.
The Ritabrata Banerjee-led faction, which claims majority support among TMC MLAs and has approached the Election Commission seeking recognition as the "real" Trinamool Congress, is holding its programme near the Mahatma Gandhi statue on Mayo Road after obtaining police permission.
The Mamata Banerjee faction, denied its traditional venue outside Victoria House, moved the Calcutta High Court, and was eventually permitted to organise its gathering near the Birla Planetarium, a couple of kilometres away.
The event that was used to showcase the organisational unity of the TMC has now become the stage for competing claims over its history and doing justice.
Rejecting the rebels' claim to the party's legacy, Mamata's aide, Chandrima Bhattacharya, (who had stepped down from the chief's post of TMC's woman's wing) insisted there was only one TMC. "We do not believe that there is any faction; we are the Trinamool Congress... What matters is paying tribute to the martyrs and demonstrating our reverence for them," she said.
Veteran TMC leader Kunal Ghosh was even more categorical. "July 21 is synonymous with Mamata Banerjee. It was her movement, her struggle and her sacrifice that gave the day its identity. No one can take that legacy away," he said.
The rebel camp, led by Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata, sees it differently. It's trying to reclaim the legacy of July 21 without entirely disowning Mamata. This comes amid his bid to be the "real" TMC after removing Mamata as party chief and running a parallel party. Ritabrata, a former Rajya Sabha MP, who was earlier the Left's blue-eyed boy, said Mamata would attend the event "if she wished to be a margdarshak (guide)". He insisted that the programme represented the TMC and not any faction.
Thirdly, the Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar-led camp of 20 MPs that merged with Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), will observe July 21 at Rajghat in New Delhi. That's because the MPs are in Delhi for the monsoon session of Parliament.
MARTYRS' DAY: CONGRESS WANTS ITS HISTORY BACK
The Congress has used the split in the TMC to reclaim ownership of July 21. West Bengal Congress president Subhankar Sarkar invited Mamata Banerjee to attend the programme of the Congress at Shahid Minar, only if she acknowledged leaving the Congress was a political mistake.
"If Mamata Banerjee really has the courage, she should not distort history. She should admit that she took a wrong political decision in the past. She is welcome to come to our programme at Shahid Minar and pay tribute to the martyrs," Sarkar said.
"The movement of July 21, 1993 was held under the Youth Congress flag. That is a part of history, and there is no scope to deny it," he said.
Former MP and Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury alleged that the TMC had failed to deliver justice to the families of those killed in the 1993 police firing despite promising to punish those responsible after coming to power. He accused both the TMC and the BJP of misgovernance, saying, "West Bengal is destroyed by Trinamool's misrule and the country is destroyed by Modi's misrule. Both are the heroes and heroines of destruction."
Chowdhury said he would attend a Youth Congress rally at Plassey or Palashi in Murshidabad, where he said he would declare Tamanna and Abhaya as martyrs and demand justice for them. Abhaya is the pseudonym for the junior doctor who was brutally raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata in 2024. Tamanna Khatun was a 10-year-old girl killed in a bomb explosion in Kaliganj during the day of the results of the 2025 bypoll election.
HOW THE BJP HAS ENTERED BENGAL MARTYRS' DAY CONTEST
On the eve of the anniversary of Shahid Diwas, West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari tabled the Justice Sushanta Chatterjee Commission report in the Assembly, accusing the TMC government of suppressing its findings after receiving it in 2024. Adhikari alleged that the TMC government neither implemented recommendations nor adequately compensated the victims' families.
"The commission recommended Rs 25 lakh as compensation for the family of each person killed and Rs 5 lakh for every injured person. But the previous TMC government neither implemented these recommendations nor paid the compensation," he said.
He announced that the BJP government would pay the remaining compensation from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund and allow families to file fresh FIRs with government legal assistance, reported PTI.
Reading portions of the report, Adhikari said the commission concluded that there had been no situation warranting police firing and described the use of force as "unnecessary, unjustified and unprovoked". He also alleged that records connected with the incident had gone missing and questioned why Mamata Banerjee, whom he called the "biggest witness", was never examined despite more than 300 witnesses being heard.
The BJP has simultaneously sought to shape the logistics of this year's commemorations across Kolkata.
So, this Tuesday, Kolkata would see what it hadn't for several decades. It has become a four-way tug-of-war over who owns it.
The Mamata camp wants to prove that its founder commands the emotional loyalty of workers against the Left that commands minimal influence now. The Ritabrata faction hopes to demonstrate that it represents the organisational majority of the TMC. The Congress is attempting to reclaim the movement's original ownership as it was a Youth Congress agitation. And the BJP government is using the enquiry report and compensation announcements to argue that while others built political careers around the tragedy, it is the first administration to act on its findings.
For years, July 21 in Kolkata unfolded much the same way. The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) celebrating the day exclusively. Lakhs of Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers would descend on the city. Mamata would address the party's biggest annual rally as rivals watched the show of strength. And the Shahid Diwas would end with her announcing a roadmap for the future.
This year, however, things are different. There's poriborton! The first Martyrs' Day or Shahid Diwas after the 2026 Assembly election that brought the BJP to power in West Bengal has turned into a four-way contest. The sides are the Mamata-Abhishek-led TMC faction, the Ritabrata Banerjee-led rebel MLAs' faction, the Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar-led camp of 20 MPs that merged with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) not many knew of and the Congress.
But the most important player is the BJP government of CM Suvendu Adhikari. The only player now in control of the game might have opened a Pandora's box. It's made itself a stakeholder by tabling the enquiry report, announcing compensation for the families of the victims killed in police firing in 1993, and questioning the TMC government's handling of the case.
The Shahid Diwas traces its origins to July 21, 1993, when 13 Youth Congress workers were killed in police firing during a march to Writers' Buildings led by Mamata Banerjee, then the state Youth Congress president. They were marching to demand that voter identity cards become the sole mandatory document for voting.
The Congress declared the day as Martyrs' Day in memory of those 13 killed during the Left Front government. But after Mamata Banerjee broke away in 1997, formed the TMC, and defeated the CPI(M)-led government, the annual observance became inseparable from the TMC's political identity.
Three decades later, the legacy of those 13 deaths is being claimed by multiple political players. The Congress insists the movement belonged to the Youth Congress. The Mamata and Ritabrata camps are holding separate commemorations while battling over the "real" Trinamool Congress. And the BJP government has entered the ring by tabling an enquiry commission report, asking some tough questions.
FROM CONGRESS PROTEST TO TMC'S BIGGEST POLITICAL EVENT
The July 21 movement began as a Congress agitation against the then Left Front government. On July 21, 1993, thousands of Youth Congress workers marched towards Writers' Buildings in Kolkata. Police opened fire during the protest, killing 13 people and injuring many others.
When Mamata Banerjee founded the Trinamool Congress in 1998, she carried the memory of July 21 with her. Over the years, the annual Martyrs' Day rally evolved into the TMC's largest political mobilisation.
According to a PTI report, the rally became "a grand annual showcase of political power", featuring "lakhs of supporters, high-profile defections from rival camps and declarations of future battle plans". Announcements of strategy, celebrity appearances and cultural programmes became recurring features of the event. But the result of the 2026 Assembly election upended that tradition.
A SPLINTERED TMC IS NOW FIGHTING OVER THE SAME LEGACY
This year's observance is unprecedented because the TMC itself is divided.
The Ritabrata Banerjee-led faction, which claims majority support among TMC MLAs and has approached the Election Commission seeking recognition as the "real" Trinamool Congress, is holding its programme near the Mahatma Gandhi statue on Mayo Road after obtaining police permission.
The Mamata Banerjee faction, denied its traditional venue outside Victoria House, moved the Calcutta High Court, and was eventually permitted to organise its gathering near the Birla Planetarium, a couple of kilometres away.
The event that was used to showcase the organisational unity of the TMC has now become the stage for competing claims over its history and doing justice.
Rejecting the rebels' claim to the party's legacy, Mamata's aide, Chandrima Bhattacharya, (who had stepped down from the chief's post of TMC's woman's wing) insisted there was only one TMC. "We do not believe that there is any faction; we are the Trinamool Congress... What matters is paying tribute to the martyrs and demonstrating our reverence for them," she said.
Veteran TMC leader Kunal Ghosh was even more categorical. "July 21 is synonymous with Mamata Banerjee. It was her movement, her struggle and her sacrifice that gave the day its identity. No one can take that legacy away," he said.
The rebel camp, led by Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata, sees it differently. It's trying to reclaim the legacy of July 21 without entirely disowning Mamata. This comes amid his bid to be the "real" TMC after removing Mamata as party chief and running a parallel party. Ritabrata, a former Rajya Sabha MP, who was earlier the Left's blue-eyed boy, said Mamata would attend the event "if she wished to be a margdarshak (guide)". He insisted that the programme represented the TMC and not any faction.
Thirdly, the Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar-led camp of 20 MPs that merged with Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), will observe July 21 at Rajghat in New Delhi. That's because the MPs are in Delhi for the monsoon session of Parliament.
MARTYRS' DAY: CONGRESS WANTS ITS HISTORY BACK
The Congress has used the split in the TMC to reclaim ownership of July 21. West Bengal Congress president Subhankar Sarkar invited Mamata Banerjee to attend the programme of the Congress at Shahid Minar, only if she acknowledged leaving the Congress was a political mistake.
"If Mamata Banerjee really has the courage, she should not distort history. She should admit that she took a wrong political decision in the past. She is welcome to come to our programme at Shahid Minar and pay tribute to the martyrs," Sarkar said.
"The movement of July 21, 1993 was held under the Youth Congress flag. That is a part of history, and there is no scope to deny it," he said.
Former MP and Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury alleged that the TMC had failed to deliver justice to the families of those killed in the 1993 police firing despite promising to punish those responsible after coming to power. He accused both the TMC and the BJP of misgovernance, saying, "West Bengal is destroyed by Trinamool's misrule and the country is destroyed by Modi's misrule. Both are the heroes and heroines of destruction."
Chowdhury said he would attend a Youth Congress rally at Plassey or Palashi in Murshidabad, where he said he would declare Tamanna and Abhaya as martyrs and demand justice for them. Abhaya is the pseudonym for the junior doctor who was brutally raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata in 2024. Tamanna Khatun was a 10-year-old girl killed in a bomb explosion in Kaliganj during the day of the results of the 2025 bypoll election.
HOW THE BJP HAS ENTERED BENGAL MARTYRS' DAY CONTEST
On the eve of the anniversary of Shahid Diwas, West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari tabled the Justice Sushanta Chatterjee Commission report in the Assembly, accusing the TMC government of suppressing its findings after receiving it in 2024. Adhikari alleged that the TMC government neither implemented recommendations nor adequately compensated the victims' families.
"The commission recommended Rs 25 lakh as compensation for the family of each person killed and Rs 5 lakh for every injured person. But the previous TMC government neither implemented these recommendations nor paid the compensation," he said.
He announced that the BJP government would pay the remaining compensation from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund and allow families to file fresh FIRs with government legal assistance, reported PTI.
Reading portions of the report, Adhikari said the commission concluded that there had been no situation warranting police firing and described the use of force as "unnecessary, unjustified and unprovoked". He also alleged that records connected with the incident had gone missing and questioned why Mamata Banerjee, whom he called the "biggest witness", was never examined despite more than 300 witnesses being heard.
The BJP has simultaneously sought to shape the logistics of this year's commemorations across Kolkata.
So, this Tuesday, Kolkata would see what it hadn't for several decades. It has become a four-way tug-of-war over who owns it.
The Mamata camp wants to prove that its founder commands the emotional loyalty of workers against the Left that commands minimal influence now. The Ritabrata faction hopes to demonstrate that it represents the organisational majority of the TMC. The Congress is attempting to reclaim the movement's original ownership as it was a Youth Congress agitation. And the BJP government is using the enquiry report and compensation announcements to argue that while others built political careers around the tragedy, it is the first administration to act on its findings.
