Kolkata: An impassioned Lionel Messi admirer's hug of a lifetime ended a ministerial run. Bengal sports minister Aroop Biswas on Tuesday stepped back from the portfolio after the messy Messi show at Salt Lake Stadium, an embrace with the Argentine star turning into a political liability for Trinamool Congress.
CM Mamata Banerjee accepted Biswas's offer to relinquish charge till completion of a "fair and impartial inquiry", placing sports under the CMO for now. Biswas (61) had been seen hugging Messi. Members of the Biswas family were photographed with the football icon during Saturday's Kolkata leg of his India tour - scenes that came to symbolise what critics dubbed the Messi mess.
Pressure mounted within Trinamool to "do something". Party seniors said Biswas's allegedly direct role in the fiasco, coupled with his clan's widely documented proximity to Messi, made his position untenable with state assembly elections due next year.
Trinamool functionaries said the partial step-back could blunt outrage and opposition attacks. "If face of mess has been partially 'sacrificed', who will they gun for? How will the opposition say the administration did not act?" a senior cabinet minister said, explaining the rationale behind the move and its swift acceptance.
Repeated calls and messages to Biswas went unanswered late Tuesday. Biswas will remain in cabinet as power and housing minister. One of Banerjee's closest aides, he took charge of sports in Nov 2015 after Madan Mitra was arrested in Saradha scam probe.
Friends said the fall was personal as well as political. Biswas was inconsolable when Argentina lost the 2014 World Cup final and euphoric when Messi finally lifted the trophy in 2022. "We watched both matches together," said a Suruchi Sangha club member. "He got carried away seeing Messi from such close quarters."
Public fury erupted barely 20 minutes into the event. Thousands who paid between Rs 5,000 and Rs 16,000 for tickets booed politicians and organisers who blocked sightlines. Anger spilled over. Chairs were uprooted and hurled.
Spectators breached the playing area, ripped tents and nets, set sofas on fire, carried away flower pots, carpets and furniture-vandalism Kolkata has rarely seen.
In a video message, Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh called the minister's resignation "raj dharma".
"Our party believes in transparency and does not shy away from performing raj dharma. That is why Biswas has resigned," he said.