In a desperate damage control exercise, Alimuddin Street bosses on Wednesday made SFI leader Ritabrata Banerjee offer an unconditional public apology for the attack on finance minister Amit Mitra in New Delhi on April 9. The Mamata Banerjee government and the ruling Trinamul Congress had been baying for Mr Banerjee’s blood. Panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee had said that in the FIR filed for the Planning Commission office attack, Mr Banerjee’s name was specifically mentioned. CPI(M) sources said that by making Mr Banerjee seek public forgiveness, the party wanted to send a positive message to Ms Banerjee. In fact, it was for this reason that top party leaders like Biman Bose or Surjya Kanta Mishra did not share stage with the SFI leader on Wednesday.
Mr Banerjee, who had on April 11 tried to pass the buck on some other organisation, on Wednesday admitted that SFI could not avoid its responsibility for the attack. “I express my regrets and I seek forgiveness. I also promise that in future SFI will never be involved in such unwarranted incidents,” he added. Mr Banerjee was addressing a condolence meeting which was organised for SFI leader Sudipto Gupta by four Left students outfits at the Nazrul Mancha.
Sudipto’s father Pranab Gupta brought tear in every eye when he paid homage to his son by playing a Tagore song on violin. A note sent by noted director Mrinal Sen was read out.
He could not attend because of his ill-health. A 30-minute video film on Sudipto showed different facets of this talented youth. The SFI will organise rallies in memory of Sudipto on May 2 across the country, Mr Banerjee said.
Mr Banerjee announced that he was ready to go to jail if his guilt for Delhi attack was established from the television clips. The ruling Trinamul Congress, however, remained unmoved. In fact, taking strong exception to the SFI leader’s presence at the condolence meeting, industry minister Partha Chatterjee said it showed that the CPI(M) had no remorse.