Kolkata, India – In a significant political development, West Bengal correctional home department minister Akhil Giri announced on Sunday that he would resign from the cabinet following instructions from Trinamool Congress (TMC) president Subrata Bakshi. This decision comes in the wake of a public incident where Giri allegedly threatened and insulted a woman range officer of the forest department.
Despite agreeing to step down, Giri has refused to apologize to the officer, Manisha Sau, whom he confronted at the Tajpur sea beach on Saturday. “I will e-mail my resignation letter today following Subrata Bakshi’s instruction. I will meet Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tomorrow and hand over the letter to her. As a politician, I have never apologized to any officer. The question does not arise. I uttered harsh words in anger, but I was fighting for the local people who lost their shops,” Giri told the media at Ramnagar, his assembly constituency in East Midnapore district.
Videos of the incident went viral, showing Giri shouting at Sau and calling her “an animal.” The TMC leadership condemned Giri’s behavior, and Bakshi called for his immediate resignation and a personal apology to Sau.
Giri accused Sau of demolishing around 20 shops set up by local people on the beach, while Sau claimed that her department was enforcing a recent order from the chief minister to evict all encroachers from government land. The Tajpur beach is a popular tourist destination.
“This is their internal matter. I work for the government. I cannot comment,” Sau told the media following the minister’s announcement.
TMC state vice president Jay Prakash Majumdar stated, “The highest leadership instructed Giri to resign and apologize to the officer. If he does not apologize, then the party will take its decision.”
This incident adds to Giri’s controversial record. In 2022, he caused major embarrassment to the TMC by making a humiliating remark against President Droupadi Murmu, prompting an apology from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The confrontation with Sau, who was enforcing anti-encroachment measures on forest land, has sparked a broader debate on the conduct of political leaders. Samik Bhattacharya, chief spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Bengal unit, remarked, “Giri has done nothing exceptional as far as TMC is concerned. We have seen many TMC leaders threatening government officials in the past. No action was taken against them. Giri should be arrested because stopping a government official from discharging duty is a punishable offense in India.”
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