Mamata Banerjee Is Our God Who Can Do No Wrong Though Priests Worshipping God Can Sometimes Be Thieves: Minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee can do no wrong as she is like a god, West Bengal minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay said on Sunday (Mar 26), asserting that even priests sometimes turn out to be thieves, but not gods.

Chattopadhyay's comments, which triggered a controversy, came as the TMC battles allegations of corruption in school recruitments with several of its top-rung leaders, including former education minister Partha Chatterjee, arrested.

''Mamata Banerjee is like a god who we worship. Even the priests worshipping the god can at times be a thief but not the god, the idol he worships,'' he said, addressing a public meeting at Khardah in North 24 Parganas district.

''Even I can be a thief, but not Mamata Banerjee,'' he added.

Chattopadhyay, the agriculture minister, alleged that several irregularities happened in educational institutes during the CPI(M)'s rule but those were never investigated.

A person was appointed registrar of a university during the Left Front government, even though he did not have 50 per cent marks in graduation and post-graduation, he alleged, claiming that undeserving candidates were also appointed professors in various state-run varsities.

But these things were overlooked, the minister said.

Chattopadhyay was the founder president of the Indian National Trinamool Trade Union Congress, the labour wing of the party. He also served as the president of the Kolkata Auto Rickshaw Operators’ Union.

Chattopadhyay is a seven-time member of the state assembly, In 1991 and 1996, Chattopadhyay won the Baruipur seat as a Congress candidate and Rashbehari constituency as a TMC candidate in 2001 and 2006. In 2011, he won by nearly 50,000 votes and was re-elected in 2016. After TMC returned to power in 2016, Chattopadhyay took charge of the Ministry of Power & Non-Conventional Energy of West Bengal.

 A close confidante of CM Banerjee, the veteran minister was fielded from the Bhabanipur constituency in 2021 assembly polls after the TMC supremo decided to enter the fray from Nandigram giving up her traditional stronghold. Banerjee was defeated by BJP leader Suvendhu Adhikari.

Chattopadhyay vacated the Bhabanipur seat to enable CM Banerjee to contest by-election. He then contested the byelection from Khardah assembly constituency and won with a margin of over 9000 votes.

CPM Dismisses Chattopadhyay's Charges

CPI(M) MP Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said the court has already dismissed the allegations being made by Chattopadhyay.

''Now, people will punish them for their sins. They have lost ground among the people, so they are making such statements,'' he informed news agency PTI

Reacting to Chattopadhyay's comment about the chief minister, the BJP said that TMC leaders were making such statements in desperation.

''TMC will bite the dust in both panchayat and Lok Sabha elections if the polling is free and fair,'' BJP leader Rahul Sinha said.

(With inputs from PTI)