Manoj Tiwary slammed former West Bengal minister Aroop Biswas for sidelining him during his tenure as MoS for Sports and Youth Affairs. After TMC’s defeat at the 2026 West Bengal Assembly Elections, Tiwary resigned from the party and went on to attack its hierarchy on social media.
Tiwary, a former Indian cricketer, joined politics in 2021. It is not just Tiwary, who has slammed Biswas since TMC’s defeat. The organiser of Lionel Messi’s India Tour, Satadru Dutta, also broke his silence, blaming Biswas for the controversy in Kolkata.
Also Read: ‘He will try to harm you’: Gambhir branded a bully with a massive ego, confronted Kohli out of habit; players ‘unhappy’
‘Arup Biswas would not allow any good work to happen’
Speaking in a Facebook video, he said, “When I was made MoS after winning, I thought I would be able to bring a lot of development and improvement in this department.”
“But what I saw was that Arup Biswas would not allow any good work to happen there. Why? Because the MoS post was just a lollipop given to me and I was kept aside. Other than having tea and biscuits, I had no work in the Sports Department.”
Biswas was at the centre of attention during Messi’s visit to Salt Lake Stadium. The minister was seen clicking photos with Messi as other dignitaries began to surround the Argentine. It was so crowded in the field that fans who paid for tickets didn’t get to see him from the stands. In anger, the Argentine departed the venue within 25 minutes. In reaction, Duttra was arrested at the airport and was kept behind bars for more than a month.
“You all saw the Messi incident. I already knew what the atmosphere was like. At every stage, they would insult me – they wouldn’t call me onto the stage properly. Even during the final prize ceremony, I had gone to the ground, but they deliberately would not call me. They could not tolerate my presence there either,” Tiwary said.
“Experiencing those feelings again and again, I understood that if I kept going there, they would repeatedly insult and humiliate me. That’s why, when the Messi episode happened – when Messi had come, as you all know – I did not go to the ground. I knew this kind of incident was going to happen.”
Pointing his finger at the former minister, he added, “You all saw that because of Arup Biswas, football lovers across our state and across India could not properly see Messi, because Messi left within five minutes. Such a huge opportunity was wasted only because of Arup Biswas.”