West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday announced that his government will make public the long-awaited report of the 21 July Commission, set up to probe the 1993 police firing incident in Kolkata. He also said the government would release documents detailing how much of the commission's recommendations were implemented during the 15 years of the Mamata Banerjee-led administration.
The announcement comes a day before multiple political groups are scheduled to observe July 21, commemorated as Shahid Diwas by the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
Addressing the Assembly, Adhikari said the commission was constituted in 2011 after the change of government in West Bengal under the leadership of retired Odisha High Court judge Justice Sushanta Chattopadhyay.
"I will place the commission's report before the people this evening. Those observing July 21 tomorrow and those who governed the state for the last 15 years must answer how many of Justice Sushanta Chattopadhyay's recommendations were implemented and how many were ignored. We will present all the facts and documentary evidence before the people of Bengal," the Chief Minister said.
The political significance of the announcement has grown amid divisions within the Trinamool Congress. This year, three separate factions are set to hold independent July 21 programmes. The Kalighat faction will organise its event near Birla Planetarium in Kolkata, while the Ritabrata Banerjee-led group will gather at the Gandhi statue in Dharmatala. Meanwhile, former TMC MPs, who recently joined the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), will observe the day at Rajghat in New Delhi.
The July 21 observance traces its origins to 1993, when then Youth Congress leader Mamata Banerjee led a march towards Writers' Buildings during the Left Front government's tenure. Police allegedly opened fire on the procession after it was stopped before reaching the state secretariat, leaving 13 Youth Congress workers dead. Since then, the TMC has marked the day annually as Shahid Diwas, while the Congress also holds separate commemorative events.
After assuming power in 2011, the Mamata Banerjee government constituted a judicial commission headed by retired Justice Sushanta Chattopadhyay to investigate the incident. The commission reportedly examined more than 300 witnesses and submitted its findings along with several recommendations. However, the report was never made public.
The demand to release the report has gained momentum in recent weeks. NCPI leader and Barasat MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, one of the prominent faces of the breakaway TMC faction in the Lok Sabha, had written to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari seeking justice in the 33-year-old case. She alleged that those responsible for the 1993 police firing were shielded during the Mamata Banerjee government's tenure and claimed that then Home Secretary Manish Gupta, whom she described as a key accused, was later rewarded with senior positions.
On Sunday, the NCPI reiterated its demand for the report's publication while announcing its July 21 programme at Rajghat in Delhi. A day later, the state government confirmed that the commission's report and details of its implementation would be released publicly.
