Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mukul Roy alleged on Monday that Trinamool Congress (TMC) President Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee owns trademark on the party’s slogan ‘Ma Maati Manush’.
Mr. Roy, who recently shifted loyalties from the TMC to the BJP, produced a certificate of registration of trademark in the name of Mr. Banerjee.
“Can you imagine the slogan of a party being owned by an individual? It is the TMC’s slogan. It cannot be the personal property of Abhishek Banerjee. I have earlier, too, said that Mamata Banerjee is making it [the party] a family enterprise. I quit because I did not want to become a servant in the party that I founded,” Mr. Roy said.
Meanwhile, in Kolkata, Ms. Banerjee has sent a legal notice to Mr. Roy, demanding an apology within 48 hours for “allegations of corruption” made against her. The legal notice claims that Mr. Roy’s statement with regard to the ownership of the ‘Bishwa Bangla’ logo and Jago Bangla newspaper were “false”.
Ms. Banerjee also threatened to file civil and criminal defamation suits if the same was not done. Claiming that Mr. Roy had made “malicious and defamatory statements” against Ms. Banerjee at a public rally on November 10, his counsel Sanjay Basu said in the notice that the allegations were “deliberately sensationalised to defame our client”.
Speaking at his Delhi residence, Mr. Roy said that there was no reason to apologise and threatened that he would “reveal many more things in the coming days”.
