Pradipta Chakraborty, the vice-chairperson of the Trinamul Congress-run Balurghat municipality, was removed from her post on Tuesday night for forcing four tribal women to perform the “dandi” ritual as an act of atonement.

The replacement came shortly after Trinamul’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee visited the South Dinajpur district as part of the statewide outreach drive taken up by the party. He spoke to three of the four women who had performed the atonement "ritual".

The quartet had performed the ritual along a stretch of one kilometre in Balurghat on April 7 to "atone for" deserting Trinamul and joining the BJP. After the ritual, they were re-inducted into Trinamul by Pradipta, who was the district president of Trinamul’s women’s wing then.

Trinamul was at the receiving end of a number of tribal organisations and the BJP following the "atonement" ritual.

Pradipta was soon removed from the district president’s post. Snehalata Hembram, a tribal face, replaced her.

“There was, however, discontentment among some Trinamul leaders and Adivasis as Pradipta continued in the vice-chairperson's post. While visiting the district on Tuesday, Abhishek made it clear that Pradipta would be removed from the post,” said a Trinamul insider.

Accordingly, Ashok Kumar Mitra, the chairman of the Balurghat municipality, issued an order late on Tuesday night, mentioning Pradipta's removal from the post. Trinamul is yet to choose a councillor who will replace her.

"By meeting the three tribal women who had performed the ritual and removing Pradipta, Abhishek wanted to drive home the point that Trinamul was concerned about Adivasis, who comprise around six per cent of the state’s population. In South Dinajpur, Adivasis make up 17 per cent of the total population," said an observer.

Calls from this newspaper to both Pradipta and Mitra for their reactions went unanswered.