Madan, TMC min behind Messi’s 1st coming, blames event organiser for chaos
Times of India | 16 December 2025
Kolkata: After his "Rs 130 crore budget" jibe, former sports minister Madan Mitra on Monday rallied behind his senior party colleagues Aroop Biswas and Sujit Bose. He heaped blame on event organiser Satadru Dutta and claimed Biswas and Bose were being targeted to malign the state govt.
After the Mamata Banerjee govt came to office in 2011, Mitra was the main organiser behind the FIFA international friendly at the Salt Lake stadium in Sept 2011, when the Lionel Messi-led Argentina beat Venezuela 1-0. It was the first time Kolkata watched Messi dazzling on the turf for 90 minutes in person. Mitra, however, did not want to get into the now-and-then comparison. "I don't want any comparison between what happened then, and now," he told TOI.
He also said that the last time there was a private organiser, but they were well-planned and took every step in discussion with the state govt. "This time, this private organiser planned on his own. I feel the organiser is solely responsible for all this chaos, and Aroop and Sujit have been targeted to malign Mamata Banerjee's govt."
"Messi's last visit went so peacefully, and the credit absolutely went to Mamata Banerjee and her govt. At that time, Messi stayed here for six days just because he was so impressed by our hospitality."
Without mentioning Satadru Datta by name, he said, "The main culprit was the private organiser who has already been arrested. People are talking about how the same event in other cities went smoothly; the reason was that the main culprit had already been arrested by the police."
But Mitra's angst against Dutta is not without reason, and it is deeply personal, sources said. In 2012, it was Satadru's initiative that brought the ‘Brazil All-Stars' to Kolkata. That team included seven players from Brazil's 1994 World Cup-winning squad, and three members from the 2002 World Cup-winning team. They played an exhibition match against former Indian footballers at Salt Lake stadium. Nearly 50,000 people attended that match. But minutes before the game, Mitra was told the Brazil team will not take the field if their dues — amounting to a couple of crores — weren't paid, and he had to step in to ensure payment.
Defending Biswas and Bose, he said, "I saw Messi was happy while photos were being taken with Aroop, and what should Sujit do with the free tickets other than distribute them? A section in Bengal is always trying to malign the image of Bengal, and they are doing the same now. The police administration did the right thing by arresting the main culprit of all this chaos, and the investigation is underway."