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‘Not Threatening the Media’, Says Bengal CM As Police Lodge FIR Against Anandabazar Journalists

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29.08.2026

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Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari demanded at a rally in Jadavpur on Friday (August 28) that the Anandabazar Patrika, the largest daily in the state, apologise for describing violence at Jadavpur University as “gerua gundami” or saffron hooliganism. Thousands of saffron clad sadhus are ready to act and waiting only for his consent, he added.

The newspaper carried his remarks on its front page on Saturday morning and did not apologise.

Meanwhile, the Kolkata police have lodged an FIR against two journalists at the Patrika as well as ‘others at its editorial team’ following a complaint by a Hindu monk alleging that the newspaper’s use of the term ‘saffron hooliganism’ could hurt the sentiments of “crores” of Hindus.

“I am not threatening the media,” Adhikari said during his rally in Jadavpur according to the paper’s own front page report on Saturday. “But an apology will have to be made. Otherwise thousands of sadhus in saffron robes are getting ready. They only want my consent. I have said [to them], ‘wait’.”

He was speaking at a programme on Raksha Bandhan at Jadavpur, where organisers had promised that Vande Mataram would be sung in ten thousand voices. He repeated the objection he made before – that the paper was free to write ‘Suvendu’s forces’ rampage’ or ‘the BJP’s rampage’ if it so wished but not to mention the colour saffron. “I will........

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