Suspended Trinamool Congress leader Riju Dutta said West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari prevented the deaths of 5,000 party workers [1].

The statement highlights a volatile political transition in West Bengal, where the restraint of a new leader may have averted large-scale retaliatory violence between opposing political factions.

Dutta, a former spokesperson for the Trinamool Congress, made the remarks Sunday. He focused on the events following May 6, 2026, when a personal assistant to Suvendu Adhikari was shot [2].

According to Dutta, Adhikari chose to call for peace rather than inciting revenge after the attack. This decision reportedly stopped a wave of violence that would have targeted members of the Trinamool Congress.

"Suvendu Adhikari has saved the lives of at least 5,000 Trinamool Congress workers," Dutta said [1].

Dutta indicated that the potential for bloodshed was high given the political climate. He said that if the chief minister had called for revenge in Bengal that night, 5,000 TMC workers would have been killed [3].

Adhikari had been in office as chief minister for two days at the time of the statement [4]. Dutta said that instead of pursuing retaliation, Adhikari asked everyone to maintain peace [3].

The praise comes as Dutta has turned against former leader Mamata Banerjee. His comments suggest that the current administration's approach to stability has significantly altered the expected trajectory of post-election tensions in Kolkata and the wider region.

“"Suvendu Adhikari has saved the lives of at least 5,000 Trinamool Congress workers."”

The public endorsement of Suvendu Adhikari by a former Trinamool Congress insider signals a potential shift in the state's political alignment. By quantifying the averted violence, Dutta is framing Adhikari's early tenure not just as a political victory, but as a humanitarian intervention that stabilized a fragile security situation in West Bengal.