Chaos and vandalism during Lionel Messi’s event at Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium drew widespread international media attention, with major global outlets highlighting mismanagement and crowd unrest, raising concerns over the city’s global image and event-handling capabilities.
A group of civil society members expressed dismay over the West Bengal Urdu Academy’s decision to postpone an event featuring Javed Akhtar, alleging the move followed protests from Muslim groups. They wrote to CM Mamata Banerjee, urging intervention to protect freedom of expression
