KOLKATA: Veteran Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Firhad Hakim resigned as mayor of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) on Friday, signaling that the aftershocks of the party’s defeat in the general elections are now shaking the urban power structures that have long entrenched its political dominance.
With the resignation of the city mayor, the management of the civic body is expected to shift into the hands of bureaucrats until the state government decides the next course of action.
Al-Hakim said, in a press conference after his resignation from his position, that he was no longer able to carry out his responsibilities in the way he believed the office required.
“Firhad Hakim is not a nobody. It is a chair that calls for respect. Respected personalities have sat on this chair in the past. When I was Minister of Municipal Affairs and Mayor, I was managing it (KMC) well. I was providing relief to people. This is no longer possible now. I cannot disrespect the chair. I cannot cling to the chair while being a soldier carrying weapons and shields. It would be disrespectful to those revered personalities. That is why I have decided to resign,” Hakim told reporters.
This comes two days after TMC spokesman Kunal Ghosh told the media that Al-Hakim had sought permission from party chief Mamata Banerjee to resign from the mayor’s post and that she had agreed to do so.
He said: “I asked permission from our party leader to step down with dignity as mayor. She agreed to that.”
Al-Hakim has served as mayor since 2018. He also served as the state’s Minister of Urban Development and Municipal Affairs.
Mutual Legal Assistance also acknowledged four times that many projects remained incomplete. “There is still a lot of unfinished business. I wish those who run the corporation after me all the best. They may be doing a better job than I can. Our job is to run the civic body transparently and fulfill the wishes of the people. I would urge the new government and the Prime Minister to fulfill the aspirations of the people. We are all there to serve the people. The people will choose those who do better. That is why I will vacate the chair,” he said.
The office he leaves behind carries a legacy spanning 150 years, and was once held by eminent personalities like Deshpandu Chittaranjan Das, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and former Prime Minister Bidhan Chandra Roy.
“When I first became mayor, I never imagined that I could become a worthy successor to such great figures,” Hakim said.
Reacting to his resignation, BJP MLA and councilor Sajal Ghosh said: “The mayor said he did a lot for Kolkata during his tenure. Please ask him to highlight one achievement. There is none. He said he wanted to resign with dignity. But the truth is that he was afraid that people would pelt him with eggs. He ran away, leaving the people and the civic body just before the monsoon.”
Meanwhile, Krishna Chakraborty resigned from the post of mayor of Bidhannagar on Thursday, while Ram Chakraborty earlier resigned from the post of mayor of Chandanagar.
After the BJP swept the assembly elections and came to power on May 9, several TMC leaders resigned from various posts in civic bodies across the state. The list includes the president, vice president, neighborhood council members and district heads of at least 10 municipalities and municipal corporations.
Earlier in May, at least two mayors of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation resigned from their posts. On Tuesday, the city council member submitted his resignation.
Several TMC leaders, including district council members of several civic bodies, have also been arrested since May 9 on charges of corruption, extortion, threatening people and their role in post-election clashes in 2021.
West Bengal has 128 civic bodies, all led by the TMC. While seven of them are municipal corporations (Kolkata, Siliguri, Asansol, Durgapur, Howrah, Bidhannagar and Chandanagore), the rest are municipalities. Elections for all these civic bodies are likely to be held by the end of this year. The civic bodies were TMC citadels.
Operations control mission
