A political dispute over an alleged attack on veteran CPM leader and lawyer Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya’s residence in Kolkata’s Jadavpur has intensified after he reportedly refused to remove the term “Hindutvabadi” from a social media post, despite a 48-hour deadline attributed to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari by the source report.
According to Sangbad Pratidin, Bhattacharya said he would not alter the post because he believed people associated with Hindutva were responsible for the attack on his home. The report said he also argued that holding Hindutva supporters responsible did not amount to insulting the Hindu faith.
The reported incident took place early on Thursday at Bhattacharya’s residence in Jadavpur. Several masked men allegedly threw glass bottles and stones at the house, breaking windows. Two people were arrested in connection with the incident, according to the report.
The report attributed the police position to a claim that the arrested men were allegedly associated with the Trinamool Congress. It said the information prompted objections to Bhattacharya’s use of the word “Hindutvabadi” in his Facebook post.
The source report said a 48-hour deadline was announced at a public meeting, asking Bhattacharya to withdraw the word from his post. It also reported that the deadline ended on Sunday, but that the CPM leader did not delete or revise the reference.
In comments attributed to a television channel, Bhattacharya questioned the authority behind the demand and said he had no reason to delete the word because, in his view, those responsible had committed the offence. He further distinguished between Hinduism and Hindutva, describing the former as pluralistic and the latter as an ideology of aggression. These statements are reproduced as attributed remarks and have not been independently verified in the supplied material.
The episode raises questions about the boundaries between political speech, police attribution and executive intervention after an attack on a private residence. The available report does not include the police case details, the names of the arrested individuals, the formal legal sections applied, or an official copy of the alleged deadline.
The source also contains a material ambiguity by identifying Suvendu Adhikari as chief minister. That description requires verification before the identity and constitutional authority of the person said to have issued the deadline can be established. The report does not provide an official statement, government notification or direct transcript confirming the demand.
Further reporting would need to establish the police account of the arrests, the legal status of the case, the precise wording and source of the alleged deadline, and whether any action has been initiated against Bhattacharya over the social media post.
