A day after his admission before a sting camera about his deep-rooted connections with the syndicate-mafia raj an undaunted Trinamool Congress MlA-cum-Mayor of Bidhannagar-Rajarhat Municipal Corporation Sabyasachi Dutta thanked the national television channel for stinging him and claimed the explosive news would fetch more votes and cement his chances of a huge win.
Bidhannagar-Rajarhat is a new township in the northern skirts of Kolkata that houses the second largest commercial hub of the country.
He had told a Times Now journalist how he acted as the fountainhead of the 20,000-strong building-syndicate — notorious for its armed dominance over the material and labour market — worth several hundred crores and that any action against the syndicates could bring down the Trinamool Government.
When asked to comment whether his syndicate links was a USP or an embarrassment for the TMC he said “of course it is a USP” because the system runs on a quid pro quo basis between him and the syndicate.
Undaunted he went on to thank the national channel for “doing me this great service by not only ensuring additional votes but also making me nationally popular.” He “promise to send a packet of sweets to Arnab Babu (read Arnab Goswami) after I win the polls.”
Defending his party’s connections with the multi-crore syndicate racket Dutta said “there is nothing called syndicate. Rather one should call it a well-defined business in supply of building materials which in any case is not a crime.”
He would “continue to stand by the working class who earn their bread and butter by supplying building materials,” he said. The syndicate sting has given the Opposition Congress, left and BJP an additional stick to attack Mamata Banerjee in the election season.
The notoriety of the syndicates is such that not a — company Government or private — can purchase its materials or hire labour by-passing the syndicates. This, even if the price demanded by the syndicates are much higher.
The syndicate raj has not only forced a large number of investors to leave Bidhannagar-Rajarhat and other areas of southern Bengal but they have also led to frequent gun-fights among the syndicates owing allegiance to various politicians.
There are two rival syndicates in Rajarhat area often clashing with each other. One of them belong to Dutta group and the other owes allegiance to a woman MP of the ruling outfit who was recently shown in a sting operation accepting bribe.
A section of the Kolkata Police holds the ongoing Syndicate raj responsible for the Kolkata fly-over collapse. According to sources the syndicates which were supplying materials to the IVRCl were not only substandard but the labour they supplied were largely unskilled.