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BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, posting screenshots of international reports, said the episode was an “international embarrassment”.
Smoke erupts after chairs were set on fire amid chaos during an event of Argentine footballer Lionel Messi as part of his ‘G.O.A.T. India Tour 2025’, at Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan (VYBK), in Kolkata. (Image: PTI)
The BJP on Sunday intensified its attack on the Mamata Banerjee administration over the chaos at Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium during an event featuring football legend Lionel Messi, sharing foreign media coverage and alleging that the incident had turned the city into a “global laughingstock.”
Bengal’s leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, posting screenshots of international reports, said the episode was an “international embarrassment” and accused the state government of gross mismanagement.
“Mamata Banerjee’s administration’s epic failure at the Salt Lake Stadium has turned Kolkata into a ‘global laughingstock’. She and her inefficient Ministers, who turned the public event into an exclusive private function with access to only a select few, who swamped the Star and managed to hide him from the public view, but were made to pay huge amounts to fund the event, triggered off the chaos,” Adhikari wrote.
International Embarrassment !!!Mamata Banerjee’s Administration’s epic failure at the Salt Lake Stadium has turned Kolkata into a ‘global laughingstock’. She and her inefficient Ministers, who turned the public event into an exclusive private function with access to only a… pic.twitter.com/jP9Q1QTHHI
— Suvendu Adhikari (@SuvenduWB) December 14, 2025
Calling it a humiliation “on the world stage,” he added, “Apologies and tactfully shifting all the blame on a ‘scapegoat’ conveniently won’t wash away the gross incompetence of the TMC Govt.”
Adhikari has also written to Governor CV Ananda Bose seeking an independent judicial inquiry into what he called “administrative incompetence” and “public humiliation of citizens” at the Yuva Bharati Krirangan.
In his letter, he alleged that a publicly funded stadium had been converted into a “private durbar” for political elites, leaving ticket-holding spectators denied basic amenities and obstructed by VIP enclosures. “What unfolded was not merely an episode of administrative incompetence, it was a public humiliation of citizens, a grotesque exhibition of unrestrained political privilege, and a direct assault on the rule of law,” he wrote.
The event descended into chaos on Saturday after frustrated spectators vandalised property, alleging they could not see Messi due to mismanagement and VIP obstruction. Police later arrested event organiser Satadru Datta, while Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced a high-level probe committee to investigate the episode.
Adhikari, however, rejected the neutrality of the panel, arguing it lacked independence since it is headed by Justice (Retd) Asim Ray, who holds a statutory post under the state government, and includes senior bureaucrats whose actions are under scrutiny.
Click here to add News18 as your preferred news source on Google. December 14, 2025, 10:35 IST
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