BJP’s Suvendu extols CPM’s Buddha’s virtues on N’gram ‘shaheed diwas’
Times of India | 8 January 2026
Nandigram: Leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari, who was part of the Nandigram anti-land acquisition movement in 2007 against the Left Front govt, lauded former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee as "everyone's neta" while paying homage to the martyrs of Nandigram on Wednesday.
"I want a CM like Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee who belongs to everyone. Once the Ram Mandir is built in Nandigram, I will stay here as a son of the soil," said Adhikari at Sonachura on the occasion of Nandigram Shaheed Tarpan Diwas. He also said CM Mamata Banerjee was the "biggest beneficiary" of the Nandigram movement.
Recalling an incident from 2008, Adhikari shared an anecdote to highlight Bhattacharjee's impartiality. He claimed that when a proposal was made to drop "false charges" against CPM strongman Lakshman Seth, Bhattacharjee intervened.
"Buddhadeb Babu asked if there were false cases against me as well. He then ordered that if Seth's name was to be cleared, Suvendu's name must be cleared too. That shows he was a CM for all, unlike Mamata Banerjee," the BJP neta told the audience. Adhikari accused CM Banerjee of abandoning Nandigram after reaping the political rewards of the 2007 movement.
On Wednesday, the TMC also held a counter-event at nearby Bhangabera. Led by Abu Sufiyan, Trinamool workers took out a candlelit march to honour the martyrs and dismissed Adhikari's comments as "opportunistic". The TMC workers accused the BJP MLA of switching sides for personal gain and attempting to hijack the movement's legacy. From the Bhangabera stage, the party issued a call to "uproot" Adhikari from Nandigram in the upcoming assembly elections.