BJP to protest at Dum Dum over minister’s Army remark
The Statesman | 6 September 2025The row erupted on Tuesday when Basu, speaking during a debate on alleged attacks on Bengalis in BJP-ruled states, recalled incidents where he said the Army dismantled protest sites in West Bengal. He went on to draw a parallel with the Pakistan Army’s crackdown in Dhaka on 25 March, at the onset of Bangladesh’s independence struggle.
“I remembered that night in Dhaka when the Pakistani Army entered and shot people in their own country,” Basu said in the Assembly, triggering an uproar among Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators. Adhikari and other BJP members staged vociferous protests, prompting Speaker Biman Banerjee to suspend the opposition leader for disorderly conduct.
Even after walking out, the BJP circulated video clips of Basu’s remarks on social media, alleging that the minister had insulted India’s armed forces. “The education minister has compared our army to Pakistan’s. This is unacceptable,” Adhikari said. BJP leaders said the planned march in Dum Dum – Basu’s constituency – aims to reach out to local voters before Durga Puja festivities begin across Bengal later this month. “We want every voter in Dum Dum to know what their minister has said, so they can decide wisely in 2026,” Adhikari told reporters. Party insiders said further demonstrations were being considered in other parts of the state. “We will not allow this insult to the Indian Army to go unchallenged,” one BJP legislator said.
Basu has not formally responded to the BJP’s allegations, but his remarks were framed in the context of political and cultural struggles in Bengal. The controversy marks a fresh flashpoint in the bitter rivalry between the state’s ruling Trinamul Congress (TMC) and the BJP, which has positioned itself as the main opposition ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
