Siliguri: A formal police complaint has been registered against Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal’s Siliguri for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus. The First Information Report, lodged at the Siliguri Cyber Thana, stems from a highly contentious speech delivered by the former chief minister during an annual Eid-ul-Fitr prayer gathering at Kolkata’s iconic Red Road. The legal action marks a major post-election escalation in the long-standing political warfare surrounding religious discourse in the state.
The complainant, a lawyer identified as Rinki Chatterjee Singh, has accused Banerjee of using deeply offensive language against Hinduism during her address to the religious congregation. According to the complaint, the erstwhile chief minister deliberately targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party by characterizing their version of faith as a fabricated, filthy religion, using the term “Ganda Dharm.” The lawyer alleged that these remarks directly insulted Sanatan Dharma, deeply offended the global Hindu community, and were engineered from a Muslim religious platform to provoke communal disharmony and social unrest.
The Siliguri police have officially taken the complaint on record and initiated preliminary legal procedures under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The FIR invokes multiple stringent provisions, including Section 351(1) for criminal intimidation, Section 352 for intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of peace, and Section 353 for promoting feelings of enmity, hatred, or ill will between different communities. The complainant stated that previous attempts to lodge the case were suppressed by authorities during the Trinamool Congress regime, but the shifting political landscape following the recent 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections has allowed the legal process to move forward.
The development has reignited a fierce political storm across West Bengal, with the local BJP leadership demanding strict accountability. Prominent leaders, including Suvendu Adhikari and Sukanta Majumdar, had previously condemned the speech, accusing the former chief minister of weaponizing a religious event for political polarization and routinely deriding the Sanatan faith. While the central leadership of the Trinamool Congress has maintained a cautious silence on the FIR, regional party representatives conceded that the specific remarks made from the state capital’s public forum had caused internal discomfort and lacked endorsement even among several party loyalists.
