Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury visited Soumitra Chatterjee’s residence on Thursday and launched an attack on West Bengal’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) government for “politicising” the late actor’s death.
Chowdhury, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, paid his tribute to the veteran actor, who died on Sunday last week, and said that the Mamata Banerjee administration failed to give him the deserving recognition and honour.
Chowdhury alleged that despite regularly honouring small artists, Mamata Banerjee had failed to recognise Chatterjee after taking over the control of West Bengal in 2011. The Congress leader blamed the state government for politicising the actor’s death to fetch electoral dividends, reported Zee 24 Ghanta.
The West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee Chief demanded a chair in the name of Chatterjee at the famed Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute in Kolkata.
However, legendary actor’s daughter, Polulami Bose, refused to comment anything about Chowdhury’s idea and instead, thanked Mamata Banerjee for her support.
“The honourable Chief Minister has helped us in every ways possible and has assured us of future assistance as well. I don’t want to comment anything else,” Bose was quoted as saying in the report carried by the Bengali news channel.
Meanwhile, Chatterjee breathed his last on Sunday after a long and hard struggle against COVID-19. Even though he had recovered from the coronavirus, other illnesses had kept him in a serious condition, informed the private hospital in Kolkata where he was admitted for 40 days.
“With deep grief I must inform you that my beloved father … my Bapi left us this morning. As a family, we are devastated. Please say a prayer for his soul,” Chatterjee’s daughter, Poulami Bose, informed.
It was COVID-19 encephalopathy that had made his brain weak before eventually turning it unresponsive, leading to a multi-organ failure.
“We declare with heavy heart that Shri Soumitra Chattopadhyay breathed his last at 12-15 pm at Belle Vue Clinic today (15 November 2020). We pay our homage to his soul,” the hospital said in a statement.
The Dada Saheb Phalke awardee was already on life support and had stopped responding to the treatment, since the last few days of this week.
Chatterjee had tested positive for coronavirus on October 5 and got admitted to the hospital the very next morning.
He was shooting for a documentary titled ‘Abhijan’ directed by actor Parambrata Chattopadhyay. He last attended shooting at the Bharatlaxmi Studio on October 1. The next shooting schedule was fixed for October 7.aying