Union minister alleges humiliation by state police during PM visit
The Statesman | 16 September 2025Majumdar said he was considering moving a breach of privilege motion before Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, alleging that the incident was part of a pattern of “discrimination” against MP and Union cabinet ministers in West Bengal.
According to the minister, his convoy was stopped several hundred metres before the airport terminal under the instruction of the deputy commissioner (DC) of airport police, who cited the Prime Minister’s security protocol. “Despite being a Union minister, I was asked to get down and walk a long distance to the terminal. This was nothing short of an attempt to defame me in public,” Majumdar told reporters. He alleged that state minister and ruling Trinamul Congress (TMC) leader Sujit Bose was allowed to drive his vehicle all the way to the terminal around the same time, bypassing the restrictions imposed on him. “This shows the duplicity of the state administration. They apply one set of rules for Union ministers and another for state ministers,” Majumdar said.
The BJP leadership in Bengal echoed the charge, accusing the state police of “double standards.” Party officials alleged that the refusal to let Majumdar’s vehicle enter the airport compound was politically motivated. “The excuse of protocol is being used selectively. If a Union minister is denied access in the name of security, how is a state minister allowed inside with his car? Has the police framed two separate protocols?” a BJP spokesperson said. The incident quickly escalated into a political flashpoint, with the saffron party reiterating its long-standing claim that the state government uses administrative machinery to “humiliate” central ministers and BJP functionaries. Trinamul Congress leaders did not immediately respond to the allegations. Police officials maintained that security protocols are decided based on specific threat assessments and operational requirements, particularly when the Prime Minister is travelling.
Majumdar, however, dismissed those explanations and insisted he would raise the matter in Parliament. “I will not remain silent when there is a deliberate attempt to insult representatives of the Union government,” he said.
The episode added to the growing friction between the BJP and the TMC-led state government, with both sides trading charges of bias and misuse of authority in the run-up to the next round of political confrontations in Bengal.
