In response, the TMC strongman claimed that he had been “ready to remove” Anarul Hussain, the party’s Rampurhat block chief who has been arrested, but Banerjee requested him not to. (File) He is known as a gentleman politician who has always stayed below the radar amid the din of West Bengal politics. But Deputy Speaker Ashish Banerjee was thrust into the limelight last week after his colleague and Trinamool Congress (TMC) district chief Anubrata Mondal accused him of protecting a party leader arrested in connection with the murder of eight people in Birbhum’s Bogtui village last month. Banerjee, who represents Rampurhat in the Assembly, is the local MLA.
The rift in the ruling party became public after the BJP’s “fact-finding committee” on the Bogtui killings wrote about Mondal’s alleged role in the incident. In response, the TMC strongman claimed that he had been “ready to remove” Anarul Hussain, the party’s Rampurhat block chief who has been arrested, but Banerjee requested him not to.
In his defence, the deputy Speaker said that asking Hussain to stay in the party “was a collective organisational decision”.
Banerjee has shared a turbulent relationship with Mondal. Two years earlier, at a party meeting, the TMC strongman had lashed out at the deputy speaker, calling him inept. A senior Trinamool leader, however, said, “Ashish Banerjee by profession was a professor of Bengali in Rampurhat College. So, he has a different dignity in the party and he never misused that. He is a veteran politician. He is respected and loved by all for his simplicity and down-to-earth behaviour.”
The 71-year-old began his political career with the Congress and was the party’s face in Birbhum. He thrice contested Assembly polls from Rampurhat on a Congress ticket but lost. In 2001, he succeeded while contesting for the TMC. Since then, he has retained the seat for the ruling party.
“In 2011, he was not chosen as minister in the state Cabinet,” said the senior TMC leader. “But he never complained about that to the party. He never went to Mamata Banerjee to ask her for a ministry. In 2017, he became the minister of agriculture.”
CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty, however, claimed that Banerjee was not the gentleman he is made out to be. “My first impression was that he is a gentleman but incapable. But, in 2006, when I saw him ransacking the Assembly, I realised he was not at all a Bengali professor. He was not only at the forefront of the entire episode, he also used abusive language. It is apparent that the TMC leadership is involved in the Bogtui incident. Now, they are blaming each other.”
The violence in the Assembly Chakraborty referred to occurred after the police prevented Mamata Banerjee from visiting Singur in Hooghly district to join an anti-land acquisition protest. The CPI(M)-led Left Front was in power at the time. Taking a dig at the ruling party, BJP leader Samik Bhattacharya said, “A Bengali professor had to surrender to those in the TMC who only think about making money. This is the tragic part (of the episode).”
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