Mamata Banerjee's name painted over at Nandan as BJP chief Nabin leads Kolkata march

A plaque bearing the name of former chief minister Mamata Banerjee has been removed and painted over at Nandan, the state-run film centre in Kolkata, while the plaque of her predecessor Jyoti Basu has been left untouched, ANI reported on Monday. The change comes weeks before the 32nd Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF), the first to be held under the BJP government that took office in Bengal this year.

No department or official had said by Monday afternoon who ordered the change or why. The Trinamool Congress condemned it, the Bengali news channel KTV Bangla reported, accusing the government of pursuing political revenge.

What happened

ANI said Banerjee's nameplate had been removed from Nandan's main hall and painted over in orange. KTV Bangla, which reported the change on Monday morning, said the plaque in the Nandan-Rabindra Sadan complex had been painted white. The two accounts differ on the colour, and The Declaration could not establish which is correct.

According to KTV Bangla, the plaque was put up in 2016, during Banerjee's tenure, as part of beautification work at the Nandan-Rabindra Sadan cultural complex. Basu, the Left Front chief minister, laid Nandan's foundation stone in 1980, and the centre was opened by Satyajit Ray in 1985.

KTV Bangla quoted the actor Mithun Chakraborty, who is the festival's chief adviser and an adviser to the state's Information and Cultural Affairs department, as asking, in Bengali, whether anyone now wanted to see Mamata Banerjee's name. The channel said the remark added to the row. Trinamool, it reported, alleged that nameplates of the former chief minister were being removed at several places across the state and accused the BJP government of moving towards autocratic rule.

The state government had not publicly responded to the allegations by the time of writing.

The film festival

Nandan has long been the festival's hub, and Banerjee, as chief minister, inaugurated last year's 31st edition. Chakraborty told reporters after a meeting at Nandan last week that this year's festival would most likely open at the Victoria Memorial "with a red carpet", and that Rajinikanth and Prabhas might attend, PTI reported. PTI gave the festival dates as 16 to 23 December in one place and 17 to 23 December in another; the organisers have yet to publish a schedule.

BJP march through central Kolkata

The row broke on the day the BJP's national president, Nitin Nabin, was due to lead a nearly five-kilometre "Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao" (Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy) padyatra from College Street to Esplanade, starting at 3 pm, PTI reported. State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya was expected to take part, and party leaders said Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari might join.

According to an official BJP statement reported by ANI, the nationwide campaign is aimed at what the party calls "lies, deception, conspiracies and anarchy" spread by the Opposition. It follows Sunday's INDIA bloc rally at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan against the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls, where Banerjee said: "Bengal is the victim of the circumstances of this SIR. We will not give up."

What happens next

The festival's organisers have yet to announce KIFF's full programme. The Declaration will update this story if the government or the Information and Cultural Affairs department explains the decision.