Leo Messi-Kolkata Fiasco: From Social Media Backlash To Pre-Poll Flashpoint

On Tuesday, the Calcutta High Court refused to interfere in a probe being conducted by a special investigation team (SIT) over the chaos that unfurled during Argentine legend Lionel Messi’s Salt Lake stadium visit in Kolkata. The court observed that no material that had been presented to demonstrate that the inquiry had been “vitiated or polluted”, and thus it was not inclined to stay or transfer the probe at this juncture.

 The three public interest litigations (PILs) before the bench had sought a transfer of the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and a refund of ticket prices for spectators. The state has also clarified that refund of ticket prices was not under their purview unless the court asked for the same. 

 Numerous people have expressed their disappointment at the statement on social media, asking for immediate refund while criticising the attempts at downplaying the impact. 

Following Lionel Messi’s visit to Kolkata on December 13, which was marred by unrest and violence at the Salt Lake Stadium, the fiasco has become a mainstay of political conversations in the lead up to the West Bengal assembly elections scheduled to take place early next year.

Messi, who kicked off his GOAT Tour in the city, left 20 mins into the programme which was slated for one and a half hours, leaving fans in the 85000 capacity stadium furious. Fans, who had paid almost 10k for tickets, complained of not even being able to catch a glimpse of Messi who was swarmed by people on ground. The presence of numerous celebrities, relatives of politicians and people in influential circles around Messi has raised numerous questions surrounding ‘VIP-culture’ in West Bengal and the political influence that was exacted on the event and the organiser.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who was on her way to the stadium when the events transpired, immediately took to X to express her shock, apologising to Messi and the fans and announcing an “enquiry committee under the chairmanship of Justice (Retd.) Ashim Kumar Ray, with the Chief Secretary and the Additional Chief Secretary, Home and Hill Affairs Department, as members. The committee will conduct a detailed enquiry into the incident, fix responsibility, and recommend measures to prevent such occurrences in the future.”

 Satadru Dutta, a self-styled sports entrepreneur and primary organiser of the GOAT tour, was arrested immediately following the event which saw fans pelting bottles and broken chairs onto the field and clashing violently with the security forces.

PTI reported that a source in the SIT, which has been formed to probe the matter, revealed that Satadru has told the investigators that Messi was 'unhappy being touched or hugged and that concern had been conveyed in advance by the foreign security officials responsible for the footballer’s protection'. Despite repeated announcements and reminders, the ground was not cleared.

Bengal sports minister Aroop Biswas, who was seen hugging and holding Messi by the waist. Opposition leaders and people took to social media to criticise Biswas, accusing him of channeling his influence to share limelight and keep people on the field.

Dutta also told investigators that he had initially made arrangements for around 150 ground-access passes for those who would be on the field with Messi when he entered the Salt Lake Stadium. The number of such passes had to be tripled in the last minute owing to pressure from influential personalities, he added. Dutta's connection with major political names across the spectrum, and his assets have also been brought under the scanner.

Following the event, numerous commentators pointed at the political scuffle surrounding the event, and how it has become the talking-point in the exchanges leading up to the assembly elections.

The BJP has been relentless in its attack against the TMC government. Suvendu Adhikari, leader of the BJP in Waste Bengal, wasted no time in pointing fingers at the government, holding them accountable for the 'embarrassment'.  “While Aroop Biswas, Sujit Bose, and their bootlicking entourage of 100+ VIP vultures swarmed Messi like leeches on a bloodbath, the real fans? Stuck in galleries, staring at a measly 5-7 minutes on a giant screen! No direct view, just betrayal,” Adhikari said on an X post, also calling for the arrest of ministers Aroop Biswas and Sujit Bose.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was recently in Bengal to sound the bugle for the upcoming elections also slammed the incident. “The people of West Bengal have endured a lot in recent years…A football-loving state like West Bengal was shamed courtesy the TMC. The recent incident has broken the hearts of so many football-loving youth," he wrote on X.

 Adhikari, at a press conference, had also accused TMC of forcefully using Messi for election propaganda. “They treated Messi as their personal property. Just months before elections, they tried to misuse people’s emotional attachment to football. We are ashamed,” he said. 

 Following immense backlash, Biswas, a prominent face within the TMC fold, resigned from the designation of the sports minister to facilitate a fair investigation into the mismanagement. Abhishek Banerjee, the general secretary of the party, hit back at BJP saying, “Here, the chief minister apologised immediately and corrective steps were initiated. Even then, questions are being raised," also referring to the BJP-led government's failure to tackle incidents such as the Kumbh stampede and the New Delhi railway station stampede.

Commenting on the political impact of the incident, Dr Ambar Ghosh, political commentator and Non-resident Fellow, European Partnership for Democracy, Brussels says, “The fiasco angered the urban youth and there is also a degree of embarrassment that has been brought upon the state. That certainly gives some negative connotation to the regime as well.

Critics have also highlighted the TMC government’s endorsement of the ‘VIP-culture’ and circles of influence that overlap across the party’s ranks. “That is definitely a kind of a crisis that the TMC was kind of confronting with. But at the same time, the magnitude of the event was not very normal. Mamata Banerjee went into damage control mode. This led to immediate arrest of the organizer, resignation of one of her closest aides, because there was an understanding within the political camp that this is not an everyday crisis,” Ghosh noted.

 The political repartee has been consistently terse, with both camps realizing the impact of the incident. “Also, Mamata's responsiveness and immediate apology is trying to amplify this point that, yes, there was a glitch, there was a fault, and there was an answer- carefully pressing on the fact that the state government was not directly involved in it,” says Ghosh.

Talking of the potency of the issue to impact electorally, he adds that it is to be seen if the general feeling of disdain and despondency is going to dissipate over time in the next few months. “We need to see if this becomes a major political plank for the opposition, and they continue to use it as ammunition against the ruling regime. Elections are still a few months away.”

However, Ghosh says the optics of Biswas’s resignation and Mamata’s apology to Messi are important just months before the assembly elections. “Previously, in other major crises which unfolded in Bengal in the last few years including RG Kar, resignations of government functionaries was something that Mamata was not keen on. But in this case she was quite prompt in doing this. She apologised immediately, accepted the resignation, retained the portfolio to herself and tried creating an impression of a responsive, accountable government. The investigation, arrest and resignation would impact public opinion at this very crucial point in the run-up to the elections.”