Kolkata: Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday held his third weekly ‘Janata Darbar’, drawing a large and diverse crowd of patients, artistes, professionals and ordinary citizens who turned up to voice their grievances and share their hardships with the new Chief Minister.
Hundreds of people gathered at the BJP state headquarters in Salt Lake, with the narrow lanes surrounding the office packed with visitors waiting for an opportunity to meet Adhikari.
Among those who attended were singers Ridhhi Banerjee and Dola Mukherjee, who accused former Bengal minister Indranil Sen of corruption and running a “syndicate raj” in the cultural sector. Sen, however, strongly denied the allegations.
The artistes alleged that the music industry had been plagued by syndicate-driven practices during the erstwhile Trinamool Congress regime, claiming that opportunities and programmes were often controlled by a select group, leaving many performers sidelined. They submitted their complaints directly to Adhikari and sought intervention into the matter.
They alleged that artistes were forced to pay “cut money” for opportunities and that former minister Indranil Sen favoured performers from his own “lobby” in government-sponsored cultural programmes.
Ridhhi Banerjee claimed that artistes who did not align with the alleged lobby were blacklisted, while many deserving performers were denied opportunities. The artistes urged the CM to ensure that the alleged culture of “cut money” and “syndicate raj” does not continue under the present government.
A section of artistes had earlier complained that they were denied access to government work, state-sponsored events, and government auditoriums for over a decade. Some artistes had also alleged they received threat calls and were excluded from programmes.
Meanwhile, former minister Indranil Sen, against whom allegations surfaced, told the media that in the past 15 years, thousands of artistes had performed in various events.
He added that he hopes that the new government will also allow them to perform in the future.
Sen also said that amid allegations against him, he would request a single artiste out of thousands to come forward and submit proof that can establish that Sen took even sweets of Rs 5 from anyone. If any allegations are proven, he would accept the punishment the new government would take against him, Sen added.