On Monday, Lok Sabha MP Kalyan Banerjee stood before the towering Durga idol at Ganga Darshan in Serampore, sobbing as he chanted a Sanskrit shloka and declared, "Give me wisdom, give me strength, give me knowledge, give me devotion, Ma," accusing the Kolkata police of mishandling the earlier stampede that killed 19.
Banerjee, a staunch supporter of Mamata Banerjee, has long been the chief patron of the Serampore 5 and 6 Palli Group and Business Association puja, but this year the event was relocated to the RMS ground by the ruling BJP; he chose to attend the Ganga Darshan ceremony instead.
Earlier this week, a crush on the RMS ground left 19 people dead and dozens injured; police have now detained seven key organizers, including general secretary Raj Kumar Sewda, vice‑president Santanu Dubey, bamboo‑structure builder Biplab Mukherjee, crowd‑control staff Koushik Saha and Pintu Dey, and security heads Suman Chakraborty and Rajesh Pal.
Banerjee slammed the police for failing to secure the narrow alleys that housed the entry and exit gates, and he held Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee responsible for not ensuring adequate safety measures, saying the administration had "total mismanagement."
The police have kept the seven suspects in custody for seven days, and investigators are now probing the chain of command behind the tragedy, while Banerjee is demanding a formal inquiry before the next assembly session.