‘TMC a few arrests away from collapse’

Judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay resigned and confirmed he is joining BJP

The Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay today resigned from the Bench and confirmed that he would be joining the Bharatiya Janata Party on March 7. Addressing a press conference, he took on the Trinamool Congress and said: “Trinamool is just a few arrests away from collapsing,” setting off fierce counter-attacks from the party’s leaders.
“Trinamool Congress means corruption, corruption means Trinamool Congress,” Gangopadhyay said, while announcing his decision to join the BJP within hours of submitting his resignation to Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam of the Calcutta High Court. His resignation has also been sent to the President Draupadi Murmu and the Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud.

“Will they survive 2024? Will the party remain till 2026? Just two or three arrests and the party will vanish. It has already started imploding,” Gangopadhyay said, equating the ruling Trinamool of today with the CPM in 2009. “Trinamool is not a political party. It is a jatra (folk theatre) party.”

Addressing the press conference, Gangopadhyay took on his opponents politically, discarding the weapons and armour of constitutional law. Gangopadhyay repeatedly said that in his judgements he had shown how corruption cases were to be dealt with.
“I have been forced to take this step due to taunts by the ruling party. Their taunts and statements inspired me to take this step. The ruling party insulted me many times. Their spokespersons attacked me with unparliamentary words. I think they have a problem with their education,” he said.

“It (Trinamool) is made of completely corrupt people. Some of them suddenly have an awakening of their conscience,” said Gangopadhyay. “There are some good people, who cannot find the exit route. I spoke with one of them last night. He said he was not aware about the extent of corruption. He told me about a sitting Minister’s indulgences.” Gangopadhyay cited the BJP’s slogan of “zero tolerance to corruption” as the main reason behind his decision to join the Narendra Modi-led party.

In reply to a question on who had reached out first, Gangopadhyay said, both he and the BJP had approached each other at the same time. “For the last seven days I was on leave, since I did not want to adjudicate in any matter. I did not want such accusations to be levelled at me,” he said.