Mamata Banerjee skips Bhai Phonta at home; her brother attends rival TMC camp’s celebrations

Mamata Banerjee did not hold the ceremony this year. Mamata camp spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said on Tuesday that she decided against celebrating Bhai Phonta because party workers had been attacked. (File)

The Bhai Phonta gathering at Mamata Banerjee’s Harish Chatterjee Street residence, once a fixture of the festival’s political calendar in Bengal, was missing this year. With the change in government in the state, few Trinamool Congress leaders, including TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee, visited the party chief’s residence, while several others attended celebrations at Trinamool Bhavan.

Mamata Banerjee did not hold the ceremony this year. Mamata camp spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said on Tuesday that she decided against celebrating Bhai Phonta because party workers had been attacked. According to party sources, the decision was also in protest against alleged violence and police harassment of TMC workers since the change in government. The party chief also did not hold the customary Bijoya Sammelan.

The absence of the gathering came amid a fresh controversy involving Banerjee’s brother, Babun Banerjee. He had reportedly said he would not visit his sister even if invited for Bhai Phonta. The statement came a day after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari attended Babun’s Kali Puja celebrations.

Babun later visited Trinamool Bhavan, where Democratic-TMC leaders held their Bhai Phonta celebrations. Senior leader Chandrima Bhattacharya applied the ceremonial tika to leaders including Aroop Biswas, Ritabrata Banerjee, Madan Mitra and Javed Khan.

Biswas, who used to host a separate Bhai Phonta programme at a south Kolkata old-age home with actors from Bengali films and television, postponed it this year.

“Yes, you heard right, the event is not being held this time. However, it is being organised at Trinamool Bhavan. Many of those who used to come to give the tika have called since morning,” he said.

Asked whether he was upset that his own celebration was not taking place, Biswas said, “Everything is a matter of time. Everything depends on time.”

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BJP leader Dilip Ghosh took a swipe at TMC leadership, claiming that those who earlier visited Mamata’s residence for the celebration had done so to remain close to power. He said the situation had changed since the influence was no longer there.

Democratic-TMC leader Madan Mitra said, “Mamata Banerjee never invited me for Bhai Phonta, and I never went. She did not consider me a brother.”

Biswas, meanwhile, said he had not received an invitation from Harish Chatterjee Street. “If I had been invited, I would have thought about it. There is no politics in the relationship between a sister and a brother,” he said.