Suvendu releases report on police shooting of Youth Congress; slams Mamata for not acting on it when she was CM

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari. | Photo credit: PTI

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday (July 20, 2026) released the report of the Justice Susanta Chatterjee Commission into the July 21, 1993 police firing that claimed the lives of 13 Youth Congress supporters.

The commission was set up by former chief minister Mamata Banerjee after she came to power in 2011, and Mr Adhikari said Ms Banerjee had not implemented several key recommendations of the panel, nor had she made its report public despite receiving it in 2014. Ms Banerjee, then a Youth Congress leader, was also injured in the police action. The report was released on the eve of the Martyrs’ Day rally, when rival factions of the Trinamool Congress will hold separate rallies in Kolkata.

“The commission recommended ₹25 crore as compensation for the family of each person killed and ₹5 lakh for each injured person. But the previous Trinamool Congress government did not implement these recommendations or pay compensation,” Mr Adhikari said. The families of those killed have received only ₹2,000 and those injured ₹15,000, the chief minister said.

Mr Adhikari said the former chief minister had always maintained that she was the main witness to the July 21 shooting, but the commission did not ask her to comment. The chief minister described the role of the then home minister Manish Gupta, who later became the power minister in the Mamata Banerjee government.

“Mamata Banerjee’s dispensation also failed to implement several recommendations of the commission in its report despite receiving it in 2014. Mr. Gupta was the power minister in her government then and she probably tried to save him,” Mr. Adhikari said.

According to the chief minister, the commission summoned a total of 44 people, including former chief minister (late) Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, then chief secretary N Krishnamurthy and then home minister Mr Manish Gupta, former Kolkata police commissioner Tushar Kanti Talukdar and CPI(M) leader Biman Bose.

“Many have used the emotions of July 21 and the blood of the martyrs to accumulate their personal wealth and political wealth, but the families of the martyrs are being completely neglected today,” Mr. Adhikari said.

“Unnecessary, unwarranted”

Mr Adhikari read parts of the panel’s report and said it had concluded there was no situation to warrant police firing at the Youth Congress rally, describing the use of force as “unnecessary, unwarranted and unprovoked”. The commission found that the detention of protesters who stormed the Writers’ Buildings, the then State Secretariat, was “imaginary” and the police firing at Mayo Road, Dorina Crossing and the Esplanade was completely unjustified.

Mr Adhikari said the panel had prepared a list of 44 key witnesses, including Mr Gupta, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, former Kolkata Police Commissioner Mr Tushar Talukdar, veteran Left leader Mr Biman Bose and former Congress leader Somen Mitra, but questioned why Ms Banerjee herself was not examined.

Mr Adhikari said his government would subsequently present other pending reports to the assembly, including those related to the Comptroller and Auditor General’s observations on Cyclone Amphan relief and alleged irregularities in the procurement of medical equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Published – 20 Jul 2026 22:35 IST