Controversy over dance at Belgharia college fest

A video showing a former student leader of Trinamul Congress’s student wing dancing with a woman during a college fest has sparked political chatter, drawing sharp criticism from the opposition CPI-M and the BJP. The footage, which has not been verified by The Statesman, has gone viral on social media. It shows Rana Biswas, a former student of Bhairab Ganguly College in Belgharia, dancing to a popular Bollywood number “Jamal Kudu” alongside a woman performer. He is seen balancing what appears to be a ‘liquor glass’ on his head while engaging in a belly dance-like performance on stage. Biswas, who graduated from the college nearly a decade ago, is also the son of a local Trinamul councillor in Kamarhati municipality. The college administration has declined to comment on the incident, and Biswas himself has not responded publicly.

However, the college’s governing body member and Kamarhati municipal chairman, Gopal Saha, downplayed the incident, saying: “Such dance performances are common at college fests. Whether it was a liquor glass or not, I cannot say. I didn’t find anything objectionable.”

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Opposition parties have condemned the episode as emblematic of what they allege is the moral decay in educational institutions under the Trinamul-led government. The CPI-M state committee member and former student leader of the same college, Sayandip Mukherjee, said: “We never had such displays in our time. Bhairab Ganguly College was once a centre of cultural excellence. Now, it has become a stage for vulgarity under the guise of festivity.”

Another senior CPI-M leader, Gargi Chattopadhyay, accused the Trinamul Congress of turning college campuses into playgrounds for its youth leaders. “The party’s student leaders, emboldened by top leadership, are turning prestigious institutions into party lounges. The Trinamul Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) state president Trinankur Bhattacharya is directly responsible,” she said. Former BJP MP Arjun Singh echoed similar sentiments, alleging that the state’s educational institutions are being turned into “bars” by the ruling party. “Whether it’s Manojit in one college or Rana Biswas in another, the culture of our campuses is being systematically destroyed,” he said.

The incident comes amid ongoing outrage over other misconduct cases involving TMCP members in various colleges, including allegations of sexual harassment and coercion. Critics say this latest episode reflects a broader pattern of lawlessness and political interference in higher education. Despite the growing criticism, the ruling Trinamul Congress has remained largely unperturbed. Party insiders have maintained that college fests are informal events and should not be politicised.