Bengal’s Artists Face Political Boycott Over Government Criticism

Published : Jan 11, 2025 09:43 IST - 7 MINS READ Recently, a section of the Trinamool Congress leadership called for a boycott of artists who have criticised the West Bengal government and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. For all its rhetoric against the BJP’s politics, essentially, Trinamool’s attitude towards constructive criticism is no different from that of right-wing forces.” “It is not unusual to see writers, poets, artists being attacked whenever they protest, and being put on a pedestal as long as they are silent about the wrongs of the government,” said Bhattacharya. “An artist or a theatre group, which was critical of the Left Front government, may have found it difficult to book a hall for performance from time to time; but never was there an open call to boycott them by any prominent member of the CPI or any of the Left Front parties,” he told Frontline, on the condition of anonymity. Well-known psephologist and political observer, Biswanath Chakraborty, believes Abhishek’s comment and its aftermath point to a “further shifting of power from Abhishek to Mamata, which has been made amply clear in the manner in which the leaders have chosen to remain loyal to the Chief Minister”. “The way senior leaders have remained steadfast in their call for boycott, in spite of Abhishek’s disapproval in public, indicates that he no longer wields the kind of autonomous power within the party like he did even a year ago,” he says.