The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on Tuesday alleged that multiple venues in Kolkata cancelled or refused bookings for its meetings after the owners of a venue came under “pressure” from local BJP representatives.
The CJP’s scheduled press conference at the Kolkata Press Club was held on the road outside the club after the organisation said the indoor space could not accommodate them due to issues of waterlogging and unavailability of electricity.
Speaking to reporters outside the Calcutta Press Club, CJP member Sunil Kumar Tiwari said, “We contacted a hall on Monday and were asked to come the following morning to complete the booking and make the payment. However, when we arrived on Tuesday, the management refused to proceed with the booking.”
“We subsequently approached three or four other venues, but were met with similar refusals,” he added.
When asked whether the CJP had concrete evidence that BJP leaders had directly threatened the venues, he said there had been no such direct communication with the organisation, but alleged that pressure may have been imposed “from the top”.
Alleging that the venue owners were afraid of facing action or attacks if they allowed the meetings, CJP co-convenor Asutosh Ranka said, “We have received refusals from around six other halls as well.”
The allegations could not be independently verified.
The outfit also accused the BJP government in West Bengal of resorting to “intimidation and threats to gag” the CJP’s voice and “not taking action” against all those involved in the murder of Janab Mafik, who was assaulted while he was trying to assess the condition of a government school at Karisunda in the district.
“The local BJP MLA in Bowbazar in the city today pressurised Indian Association authority not to allow the CJP to hold a meeting, while the Press Club Kolkata also cited a technical problem. We don’t understand what happened. We cannot be threatened or intimidated this way,” Ranka said.
“The BJP is trying to gag the voice of CJP in Bengal,” he said, adding that every political party which believes in democracy should extend support to the “school clean-up campaign and clean up the education system”.
A core CJP member, Sudhir Sangwan, said, “Those involved in the assault were certainly affiliated with the BJP. We have eyewitness accounts and the names and photographs of some of the accused which can be matched with their profiles and the FIRs to establish their political affiliation.”
He did not, however, provide any independent documentary evidence to substantiate the claim during the interaction.
Ankit Bhardwaj, the CJP’s east and northeast zone in-charge, said Mafik’s 25-year-old son Shaik Abdul Hafeez did not want financial compensation and instead wanted the government to build a “world-class” school in his village and district in his father’s memory. The CJP said a delegation led by member Akash Prem would remain at Hafiz’s residence and warned of demonstrations outside local administrative offices if the government failed to respond to its demands.
The BJP has denied organisational involvement in the incident.
West Bengal Police rejected claims that the Bankura resident died following a “brutal physical assault”, saying he had sustained only a minor injury during an alleged attack at his residence and later died after being admitted to hospital following severe blood pressure fluctuations.
In a post on X, the police said Mafik had sustained an injury requiring a single stitch after the August 13 incident.
“During the incident, Sk Md Mafik sustained a minor injury that required a single stitch,” the West Bengal Police wrote on X. It said that on the morning of August 15, Mafik “got self-admitted to Burdwan Medical College after experiencing severe blood pressure fluctuations”.
Following his death, “baseless and false claims” began circulating online alleging that he had died from a “brutal physical assault”, the police added.
(Arghya Chakraborty is an intern with The Indian Express, Kolkata)
