Former West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee at the party’s Martyrs’ Day rally, organised to commemorate the death of thirteen party workers in police firing in 1993 at a protest rally, in Kolkata. File
\| Photo Credit: The Hindu

The story so far: A day before the multiple rallies were held in Kolkata on account of Martyrs’ Day, West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on July 20, 2026, made public report of Justice Susanta Chatterjee Commission of Inquiry. The Commission of Inquiry to probe the police firing on Youth Congress supporters on July 21, 1993, where 13 Congress supporters were killed was announced by former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, when she came to power in 2011.

Ms. Banerjee who was a youth Congress leader then had led the march demanding that photo-identification card be made mandatory for casting votes. The procession was to march to the State Secretariat Writers Buildings, but the police intervened and fired upon the protesters in the city’s Esplanade Area. Ms. Banerjee had sustained injuries in the police action.

What did CM Suvendu Adhikari reveal about Inquiry Commission report?

Making the Justice Susanta Chatterjee Commission of Inquiry public in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said the firing on protesters was uncalled for.

“There was no need to fire bullets to control the crowd located far away from Writers Buildings” and “apprehension of an attack on Writers’ Building was imaginary,” the Chief Minister said quoting from the report.

CM Suvendu Adhikari said that the former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who had always claimed to be the prime witness in the July 21 firing, was not asked by the Commission to give her statement.

“The Commission, in its report, said that no proper documents were supplied to it. The former Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, who claimed to be the prime witness, did not record her statement before the Commission,” CM Suvendu Adhikari said.

The Chief Minister raised questions on the role of Manish Gupta, who was the Home Secretary in the then Left Front government, who later became a Cabinet Minister in the Mamata Banerjee government.

Mr. Adhikari said that the most important part of the report was the statement of Pankaj Banerjee (the former Leader of the Opposition) who refused to appear as a witness because he believed the Commission had been formed to shield the then Home Secretary (Manish Gupta) and a section of police officers,” he added.

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari tried to highlight that Mamata Banerjee, and leaders of her party used the emotions of July 21 police firing to amass their personal property and political fortunes, but the families of the martyrs are being completely neglected today.

He added that while the Commission recommended ₹25 lakh as compensation for the family of each person killed and ₹5 lakh for every injured person, the families of those killed received only ₹2 lakh and the injured ₹15,000 during the previous Trinamool Congress government.

How many witnesses did the Justice Susanta Chatterjee Commission of Inquiry examine?

Justice Susanta Chatterjee Commission of Inquiry had summoned a total of 44 people including former Chief Minister (late) Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, then Chief Secretary N. Krishnamurthy and the then Home Secretary Manish Gupta, former Kolkata Police Commissioner Tushar Kanti Talukder and CPI(M) leader Biman Basu and journalists and photographers who were present when the firing occurred. The Commission had submitted its report in 2014, but the report was not made public by the Mamata Banerjee government.

The Trinamool Congress, however, observed the Martyrs’ Day with much pomp after it came to power in 2011. After 2011, when Mamata Banerjee came to power, not only her party leaders and supporters but prominent people from all walks of life would make a beeline at the July 21 Martyrs’ Day gathering. Lakhs of people from across the State would gather outside Victoria House in Esplanade to catch a glimpse of the leader and hear her speak.

What is the political significance of the Commission report’s release?

By making public the contents of the report, which was not made public by the previous Trinamool Congress government, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in West Bengal is trying to claim that Mamata Banerjee was not serious about giving justice to the 13 Youth Congress supporters killed in police firing in 1993. The BJP leadership claims that the contents of the report reveal that the former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee used the incident only as a political tool to rally her supporters.

Published - July 21, 2026 01:42 pm IST