Kolkata, Aug 11 (PTI) Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Ritabrata Banerjee, on Tuesday approached the police, alleging that he had repeatedly received death threats from Bangladesh-based phone numbers over the last three months.
According to people close to the rebel TMC leader, the threats were made through WhatsApp calls between May 3 and August 9. The callers allegedly warned him that he would meet the fate of Bangladeshi-American blogger Avijit Roy, who was hacked to death in Dhaka in 2015.
Banerjee, who initially did not attach much significance to the calls, decided to approach the police after the threats continued, the sources said, adding he went to state police headquarters Bhabani Bhaban during the day.
The development assumes significance amid heightened security concerns in West Bengal following the arrest of suspected Jaish-e-Mohammed operative Hamim Mondal and his alleged associates. The state STF has said the Pakistan-linked module had conducted surveillance of Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and was exploring possible targets and locations.
Police, however, have not indicated any link between the threats to Banerjee and the JeM investigation.
The reference to Avijit Roy has added a sharper edge to the complaint. Roy, a prominent free-thinking blogger, was killed near Dhaka University on February 26, 2015. His wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya was also injured in the attack. Investigators subsequently linked the killing to members of Ansar al-Islam, a banned extremist outfit in Bangladesh.
Whether the threats to Banerjee have any connection with that organisation, or with any other extremist network, remains a matter for investigation.
For Banerjee, the police complaint comes at a politically charged moment.
He has emerged as the principal face of the rebellion that has split the Trinamool Congress following its defeat in this year’s Assembly elections. The dissident camp, which claims to represent the “real” TMC, has challenged Mamata Banerjee’s leadership and accused the party’s old leadership of losing its political direction amid successive electoral reverses.
The rebels last month held a parallel organisational session, elected senior MLA Arup Roy as their chairperson and unveiled a rival organisational structure, effectively seeking to redraw the party’s hierarchy.
The rupture has also acquired a legislative dimension. Banerjee was recognised as Leader of the Opposition after a majority of the TMC MLAs backed him, despite the Mamata Banerjee camp putting forward its own nominee for the post. The rebel camp has since claimed the support of around 65 of the party’s 80 MLAs.
The dispute has spilled into Parliament as well, with a large section of the party’s Lok Sabha contingent breaking away from the Mamata camp and aligning with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India and the BJP-led NDA.
The internal battle has therefore moved well beyond a leadership dispute, with rival factions now contesting control of the party’s organisation, electoral identity and political legacy.
Against that backdrop, the alleged threats to Banerjee introduce a security dimension to an already volatile political confrontation. For the police, the immediate task is to establish the origin of the calls, identify the callers and determine whether the threats were intended merely to intimidate a prominent political opponent or point to a wider network.
Banerjee’s decision to seek police intervention also comes at a time when investigators are examining how overseas-linked extremist networks have used encrypted communication, social media and local contacts to identify potential targets in West Bengal.
Any link between the two developments, however, will have to await the outcome of the police investigation. PTI PNT ACD
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