Bengal BJP lawmaker seeks action over Katju's Tagore, Bose remarks

BJP legislator from West Bengal Samik Bhattacharya on Tuesday filed a police complaint against former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju for making "abusive remarks" against Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore and revolutionary Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

Katju, a former chairman of the Press Council of India, described Tagore as a "British stooge" and Bose as a "Japanese agent".

"I am soon coming to Kolkata where I will give a speech with a scathing attack on that British stooge Tagore and that Japanese agent Subhas Chandra Bose in a talk in some university or institution.

"That will be throwing a stone in a beehive, and send many Bengalis swarming like hornets for my blood. But they must know the truth. For too long they have been taken for a ride," Katju said on Monday on social networking websites.

Bhattacharya, in his complaint filed at a city police station, sought action against Katju saying the remarks tantamount to communal hatred.

"Katju's comments are not only abusive but ill intended and hate writings. His remarks are nothing but communal hatred against the people of Bengal which is a criminal offence," said Bhattacharya in the complaint.