Changes in Didi’s own neighbourhood reflect sea change in Bengal politics

Kolkata: Multiple changes — some administrative and others violent takeovers — in outgoing CM Mamata Banerjee's Kalighat neighbourhood reflect the current upheaval in Bengal politics. Cops have removed all peripheral security from outside her home and from around Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee's residence, a few hundred metres away. They have also started removing other security paraphernalia, like police kiosks, from the area.In a pre-dawn operation ordered from Lalbazar, Kolkata Police began withdrawing peripheral security arrangements from key addresses linked to the Trinamool leadership. Beginning around 6.30 am, barricades, police kiosks, scanner machines and surveillance installations were dismantled across locations including three properties of Abhishek Banerjee at 188B, Harish Mukherjee Road, 121, Kalighat Road and 9, Camac Street. At his Harish Mukherjee Road home, ‘Shantiniketan', police personnel were seen removing layers of security infrastructure that had, over the past decade, turned the premises into one of the most tightly guarded political addresses in the state. That included guard rails, chairs, fans and even baggage scanner machines and door-frame metal detectors installed outside the building. By late night, with no security personnel outside, some BJP supporters allegedly pasted BJP flags outside Shantiniketan's main door.Officials maintained that both leaders continue to be entitled to Z-plus security, and that the current exercise pertains only to peripheral deployment and publicly installed infrastructure. "Apart from the personnel sanctioned under Z-plus cover, there had been substantial additional deployment over time. That system is now under review," a Lalbazar officer said.Residents described a neighbourhood altered almost overnight. "The barricades are gone, but so is any sense of certainty. Offices are being taken over, and everything feels unsettled," a locals said.Others, however, expressed relief at the dismantling of long-standing restrictions. "For years, movement here was tightly controlled. It affected daily life. That pressure seems to have eased," another local said. Local traders said disruptions in traffic and access also impacted business.On the other hand, several Trinamool offices in Kalighat and Bhowanipore saw violent takeovers, with BJP supporters replacing party signage with saffron flags. A Trinamool office at Jai Hind Bhawan community hall on Harish Mukherjee Road, where Mamata Banerjee's sister-in-law and ward 73 councillor Kajari Banerjee would meet people, was taken over, and only BJP flags flutter outside it now. A Trinamool office in Ward 70, functioning as a temporary SIR camp, was vandalised, and documents were burnt on Allenby Road. Similar incidents have unfolded across neighbouring wards. On Harish Mukherjee Road, a Trinamool office in Ward 71 — constructed on encroached pavement — now displays images Subhendu Adhikari. A comparable transformation has taken place at a party office on Ramesh Mitra Road. On Harish Chatterjee Street, hoardings bearing Mamata Banerjee's image were found torn soonafter security was withdrawn from her home.
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