Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari demanded at a rally in Jadavpur on Friday (August 28) that the Anandabazar Patrika, the largest daily in the state, apologise for describing violence at Jadavpur University as “gerua gundami” or saffron hooliganism. Thousands of saffron clad sadhus are ready to act and waiting only for his consent, he added.The newspaper carried his remarks on its front page on Saturday morning and did not apologise.Meanwhile, the Kolkata police have lodged an FIR against two journalists at the Patrika as well as ‘others at its editorial team’ following a complaint by a Hindu monk alleging that the newspaper’s use of the term ‘saffron hooliganism’ could hurt the sentiments of “crores” of Hindus.“I am not threatening the media,” Adhikari said during his rally in Jadavpur according to the paper’s own front page report on Saturday. “But an apology will have to be made. Otherwise thousands of sadhus in saffron robes are getting ready. They only want my consent. I have said [to them], ‘wait’.”He was speaking at a programme on Raksha Bandhan at Jadavpur, where organisers had promised that Vande Mataram would be sung in ten thousand voices. He repeated the objection he made before – that the paper was free to write ‘Suvendu’s forces’ rampage’ or ‘the BJP’s rampage’ if it so wished but not to mention the colour saffron. “I will answer [to the newspaper],” he said.Adhikari also told the reporters present not to publish the term saffron hooliganism. “Any institution can make a mistake. People make mistakes too. You have to admit your mistakes. Do not write this,” he said. “It has struck many people in the heart.”The report ran under a staff byline on page one, including Adhikari instruction not to publish the term saffron hooliganism. No apology, correction or retraction has appeared in the paper since it published its original report on August 21, and it has not defended its ‘gerua gundami’ headline in an editorial either.A person at the ABP group, which publishes the Patrika, declined to comment when contacted for this story, citing the sensitivity of the matter.Saturday’s Patrika article covering Adhikari’s Jadavpur rally.The paper also checked the chief minister’s account of his own rally against what its reporter saw. Although the event was billed as Vande Mataram sung in ten thousand voices, it noted that no such volume was heard and no crowd of that size was visibly present.The casePolice registered a first information report (FIR) against two of the paper’s journalists on the same day. Bowbazar police station case no. 180 of 2026 was recorded at 2:30 pm on Friday, following a written complaint received the previous day from Sanjay Shastri Maharaj, described in the case as a saffron clad Hindu monk.The FIR does not indicate any connection between the complainant and the remarks made at the rally later that day, and none has been established.It names editor Ishani Dutta Roy and chief reporter Soma Mukherjee, both listed at the Anandabazar Patrika‘s office. A third accused is entered as “others editorial team of Anandabazar Patrika”, a category left open to interpretation. The place of occurrence is recorded as the newspaper’s office. The offence is dated to August 21, the day of publication.Four provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita are cited. Section 196 covers promoting enmity between groups on grounds including religion. Section 299 covers deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings. Section 352 covers intentional insult intended to provoke a breach of the peace.Section 3(5) is not an offence at all. It is the common intention provision, which makes each person acting together liable as though acting alone, and it is what allows an unnamed group of colleagues to be drawn into the case on the strength of a shared decision.The first two carry jail terms of up to three years and are ordinarily treated as cognisable and non-bailable, meaning arrest without warrant is available and bail is at a court’s discretion rather than a matter of right.The investigation has been assigned to sub-inspector Surajit Bose. The FIR is signed by inspector Rajeeb Sarkar, officer in charge at Bowbazar. No arrests have been reported.In his complaint, Shastri Maharaj had said that saffron is a religious rather than political symbol and that pairing it with the word hooliganism went “beyond criticism of any particular political organisation or ideology” and hurt the religious sentiments of “crores of Hindus”.He had asked the police to establish, through investigation, “who proposed the expression, who approved it, who was involved in editing the report and determining the headline, and whether any of the persons concerned had the intention or knowledge that such wording could cause injury to religious sentiments”.Who decides what happens nextKolkata police answer to the West Bengal government, which Adhikari heads. Prosecution under these religious offence provisions cannot reach a courtroom without prior sanction from the state, so no court can take cognisance unless his government signs off.In other words, the man who demanded an apology from the newspaper sits at the end of the chain that decides whether the case proceeds.No sanction has been reported as sought or granted.The complainant’s address on the FIR is recorded as 76/2 Bidhan Sarani, given as the location of the Bongio Hindu Jagran – an organisation’s address rather than a residence. The Bangio Hindu Jagran is a Kolkata-based Hindu right-wing organisation that has become prominent for its public demonstrations and marches to protest the treatment of minority Hindus in Bangladesh.