A fresh political controversy unfolded in Kolkata on Monday when personnel from the Indian Army tried to dismantle a makeshift stage built by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) at Mayo road near the Gandhi statue. The action, which occurred in broad daylight, sparked immediate backlash from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who arrived at the scene and lambasted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government for allegedly exploiting the military for partisan political motives.
The stage had been the focal point of an ongoing demonstration organised by the TMC to highlight what the party describes as mistreatment of Bengali-speaking migrant labourers in states governed by the BJP. Launched in late July, the protest aimed to rally support against these reported injustices, with plans for regular gatherings leading up to the 2026 state elections. The protest gatherings were for weekends alone. On Monday while there was no gathering but the stage had stayed as the assigned decorator yet to dismantle the bamboo scaffold structure and clear the space that essentially comes under the Indian’s Army.
Defence authorities explained that the Maidan falls under military jurisdiction, adjacent to the Eastern Command's Fort William headquarters. Permissions for events in this zone are strictly regulated, typically limited to two or three days in line with Supreme Court guidelines to preserve the area's environmental and operational integrity. The permission was granted for August 30 and 31 - the last weekend against a fee of Rs 20,000. Army claimed despite repeated notices to vacate, the structure remained standing, prompting the Army to intervene with assistance from local police to ensure order during the removal. The state government has strongly refuted any such notice being received by police, the TMC party or the government.
Video footage captured the moment Army jawans, equipped with tools, began disassembling the platform. It quickly escalated into a high-profile confrontation when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee made an unexpected appearance. As soon as she came, the jawans left the scene without any confrontation. Addressing media, she expressed her admiration for the armed forces while directing her ire at the political forces she believes orchestrated the move. "I hold immense respect for our Army and the uniform they wear with pride," Banerjee stated emphatically. "But this incident reeks of political interference. The BJP's double-engine governance is misusing our national institutions, turning them into tools for vendetta. This is not just unethical and undemocratic - it's a outright disrespect to our brave soldiers."
Banerjee further contended that her party had secured the necessary approvals and even paid the required fees for the setup. She questioned why the Army hadn't coordinated with the Kolkata Police beforehand, asserting, "A simple call to us or the state authorities, and we would have dismantled it ourselves in no time. Instead, this heavy-handed approach sends a chilling message about the erosion of federal cooperation." She urged the military to maintain its apolitical stance and resist being drawn into what she termed the BJP's "dirty politics." When asked as whether it was an attempt to challenge elected state government, Banerjee responded “let BJP challenge us politically”.
At least three labourers assigned to dismantle the stage and the structure had reached the spot early on Monday and were in middle of their work when the Army had intervened, claimed one of the labourers. “We requested the officers that we will do the work and would soon call more people. We did call our owner and he immediately moved more labourers from another work to here. That would take some time. But the army officers didn’t consider that and started doing it on their own”, said one of the labourers who was carrying out the dismantling work since morning. Even though Army claimed that it was their administrative responsibility to clear out the space, yet they left the spot without completely dismantling the structure - the initial objective they came with. Eventually the labourers of the decorator vendor finished the work. Trinamool Congress has decided to shift the protest site out of the place to Dharmatala - a non military controlled area.
The BJP swiftly countered Banerjee's accusations, dismissing them as baseless and born out of desperation. State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya remarked that the chief minister's outbursts stemmed from "sleepless nights" over the prospect of electoral defeat. "When power slips away, frustration leads to wild claims against even the defence forces," he quipped. Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar went further, accusing Banerjee of tarnishing the Army's reputation and degrading her own office through "hypocrisy and falsehoods." He emphasised that the action was purely administrative, enforcing long-standing rules without any political undertones.
