Left demands SIT probe in logo controversy

After  BJP  leader  Mukul  Roy,  the  opposition  CPI(M)  in  West  Bengal  has  turned  its  heat  against  the  ruling  Trinamool  Congress  on  the  controversy  surrounding  the  ownership  of  Biswa  Bangla  logo.

Left  Front  legislative  party  leader  and  CPI(M)  MLA  Sujan  Chakraborty  on  Wednesday  said  he  has  already  initiated  a  legal  process  in  Calcutta  High  Court  demanding  that  a  Special  Investigation  Team  (SIT)  probe  be  conducted  under  the  supervision  of  the court  on  the  ownership  issue  of  the  logo  designed  by Chief Minister  Mamata  Banerjee  and  extensively  used  by  all  state  government  departments.

During  a  rally  last  week,  Mukul  Roy,  the  once  second-in-command  in  Trinamool  Congress  and  now  a  BJP  leader,  had claimed that  the  Biswa  Bangla  logo  is  registered  under  the  name  of  Abhishek  Banerjee,  a  Lok  Sabha  MP  and  Mamata  Banerjee's  nephew.

Roy  has  also claimed that  Abhishek  had  approached  the  trademark  registration  authorities  and  had registered  the  Trinamool  Congress'  party  electoral  symbol - two  flowers  sticking  out  of  grass - as  his  own.  Roy  went  on  to  allege  that  Mamata's  nephew  has  also  secured  the  registration  of  the  Jago  Bangla  trademark,  under  which  Trinamool  Congress  publishes  its  mouthpiece.

"Nearly  a  year  back  it  was  the  Left,  which  had  first  raised  the  issue  through  a  series  of  write-ups  in  the  CPI(M)  Bengali  mouthpiece  Ganashakti.

 "BJP  has  merely  followed  it  up.  Crores  of  rupees  are  being  spent  to  popularise  this  Biswa  Bangla  logo.  But,  one  has  to  understand  that  it  is  taxpayer's  money.  Where  are  records  which  state  the  quantum  of  profit  or  loss  by  using  this  logo?  Who  is  the  paying  authority?  If  the  logo  is  indeed  registered  under  the  name  of  the  chief  minister's  nephew,  then  why  two  senior  bureaucrats  of  the  state  tried  to  defend  him  and  other  government  officials  never  raised  any  question?  And  finally,  if  Abhishek  did  not  have  anything  to  do  with  all  this,  then  why  did  he  try  to  register  the  logo  in  his  name  and  make  a  windfall?  We  want  answers  and  a  court-monitored  thorough  investigation  is  the  only  way  to  bring  things  before  the  people,"  Chakraborty  said.

The  CPI(M)  leader  also  questioned  Mamata  Banerjee's  "studied  silence"  on  the  issue.

Left  Front  chairman  and  CPI(M)  Politburo  member  Biman  Bose  has  also  sought  a  detailed  probe  into  the  matter  saying,  conflicting  reports  on  the  issue  has  created  confusion  among  people.  The  question  of  the  state's  constitutional  propriety  is  also  attached  to  this,  he  said.