On September 11, days after informing about his arrest, the leader of the opposition and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) West Bengal MLA Suvendu Adhikari took to X, formally Twitter to inform that the jail authorities working at the behest of WB CM Mamata Banerjee stopped him from meeting the Anandabazar Patrika journalist Debmalya Bagchi. Condemning the TMC government’s autocracy in the state, he declared that a “Semi-Emergency-like situation” has developed in West Bengal under “Mamata Banerjee’s Authoritarian Regime.”
Earlier on September 7, the BJP leader had informed about the arbitrary arrest of the Anandbazar Patrika journalist Debmalya Bagchi following reports he wrote in the Kharagpur edition of the Anandabazar Patrika, highlighting the menace of Hooch Traders in the Kharagpur Municipality.
Sharing a copy of the letter he had written to the Jail Superintendent of Midnapore Correctional Home seeking permission to meet the journalist, the BJP leader wrote that he had visited the Midnapore Central Correctional Home to meet Debmalya Bagchi but the Superintendent denied him permission to do so.
“Semi Emergency like situation in West Bengal under Mamata Banerjee’s Authoritarian Regime. I raised my voice earlier in my X-Handle when Mamata Police arrested Anandabazar Patrika’s Kharagpur Correspondent; Shri Debmalya Bagchi, for highlighting the menace of Hooch Traders in Ward No. 24 of the Kharagpur Municipality. Even yesterday at the Ghatal Rally, I reiterated my stance. Now the Police & Jail Authorities under the specific instructions of Mamata Banerjee have gone a step further and aren’t allowing people to meet him. Today I wanted to visit Shri Debmalya Bagchi at the Midnapore Central Correctional Home but the Superintendent denied me the permission to do so. Why are you afraid Mamata Banerjee? The Leader of Opposition wants to meet a Journalist whom you have jailed for throwing the spotlight on the deteriorating Law & Order situation of the State. You might have been able to temporarily halt the ink flowing from the Pen of this Journalist, but remember Authoritarian Regimes don’t last forever and the Pen is mightier than your Atrocities,” the BJP leader’s long post read.
On 7th September Suvendu Adhikari informed about the arrest of Anandabazar Patrika journalist Debmalya Bagchi by the state authorities in West Bengal. Accusing media and left-liberals of maintaining silence on the arrest, he narrated the chronology of events that led to Bagchi’s arrest.
Journalist Debmalya Bagchi was allegedly picked up by the police from his residence in the aftermath of a series of reports published by Anandabazaar Patrika highlighting the illegal trade of illicit alcohol happening in the residential area of Sanjoal in Ward No 24 of Kharagpur Municipality.