On Thursday, Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee lauded the state police for targeting the BJP workers during the Nabanna Chalo march and said that he would have shot the protesters in the head, had he been present at the site. “I salute the officer for his patience and his handling of the riots. If I was there, I would have shot them in the head”, Banerjee said on September 14.
According to the reports, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s cousin and Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee visited Kolkata (central) ACP Debjit Chatterjee who suffered injuries during the rally. After seeing Chaterjee who is undergoing treatment at the state-run SSKM hospital, Abhishek Banerjee turned furious and used disparaging language toward the BJP workers.
He accused the BJP workers of creating a ruckus in the state during the Nabanna Chalo rally and said that the state police unnecessarily showed restraint to handle the rally with ‘patience’. “If the police wanted to teach the stone-pelters a lesson, they could have opened fire on them. The game would have ended even before it had started. But that didn’t happen. The very fact that the police showed restraint in the face of adversity is the biggest change in our system”, he was quoted.
This murderous thug is more than just Mamata Banerjee’s nephew. He holds unconstitutional sway over her Govt. If she has the guts, let the brutal sentiment of fascism, latent in his statement, reflect in lethal action of the WB Police. She won’t survive wrath of the people after. pic.twitter.com/mfcYAYZXsa
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) September 15, 2022
This is moments after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee criticized the protest led by the BJP on September 13 and compared the BJP workers to goons. “The public has been harassed by the BJP workers. The police could have shot at the protesters. But that was the last resort and was not necessary”, Banerjee said praising the state police for ‘managing’ the situation in a restricted manner.
Mamata Banerjee also alleged that the BJP leaders from the state had called goons from other locations to deliberately create mayhem in the state during the Nabanna Chalo rally. “Political protests are not done in such a violent manner. You (BJP) will bring goons from outside the state and use them for violence. That is unacceptable. You will carry guns and bombs in your bags. Is this a way to protest?”, she was quoted while leveling allegations over the state BJP.
Meanwhile, BJP leader Amit Malviya slammed Banerjee for her statement by sharing a video of the West Bengal police pelting stones at the BJP workers and tweeted, “This is West Bengal Police, in gross violation of policing manual to control public protests, like jihadis, is pelting stones at political protesters during the Nabanno Chalo Abhiyan. Home Minister Mamata Banerjee said the police was ‘restrained’ and didn’t fire at the protesters”.
This is West Bengal Police, in gross violation of policing manual to control public protests, like jihadis, is pelting stones at political protestors during the Nabanno Chalo abhiyaan.
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) September 15, 2022
Home Minister Mamata Banerjee said police was “restrained” and didn’t fire at the protestors… pic.twitter.com/d0hEVKI0Dn
The BJP on Tuesday conducted a ‘Nabanna Chalo’ (march to secretariat) mega rally to condemn the TMC-led government and its alleged corrupt practices in the state of West Bengal. LOP Suvendu Adhikari was supposed to lead a rally from Satraganchi, while Sukanta Majumdar, the party’s state president, was supposed to lead one from Howrah Maidan. Meanwhile, former state BJP head Dilip Ghosh was supposed to lead the workers from College Street.
However, the West Bengal Police said that the party had taken no permission for such a rally and stopped several BJP workers from participating in it. Widespread incidents of Police excesses in Howrah and Kolkata were also reported amid the rally. The Police also arrested thousands of BJP workers. They detained Suvendu Adhikari, the Leader of the Opposition and other leaders like MP Locket Chatterjee, Rahul Sinha, Taapshi Mondol, and Dibankar Gharami.
The BJP workers then reached the Police headquarters in the Lalbazar area and also opposed the Police action taken against several BJP leaders. The Police then deployed water cannons and lobbed tear gas shells at the protest site to disperse the BJP workers. The Police lathi-charged them in Santragachi, Howrah Maidan, Mahatma Gandhi Road, and Rabindra Sarani and also were seen misbehaving with the women who wanted to join the BJP in the rally.
This is how @MamataOfficial Cops are stopping people from going to Kolkata to join protest rally.
— Kanchan Gupta 🇮🇳 (@KanchanGupta) September 13, 2022
This is how democracy functions in @MahuaMoitra ‘s republic of fear. https://t.co/AI3iRQFMW3
It was earlier reported that several BJP workers had sustained injuries in the Police attack. BJP leader Swapan Dasgupta was also injured amid the party’s mega-protest in West Bengal against Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) government. “They fired tear gas shells and lathi-charged protesters. I got pushed by a policeman. A peaceful demonstration was attacked in this fashion. The initial attack was by police. It looked like a pattern the way police attacked”, Dasgupta had said after being injured. He further slammed the TMC-led government and stated that the whole country should know the true face of this Bengal government.
Meanwhile, Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar also criticized the TMC-led government and claimed that crude bombs and stones were hurled at his party workers. Majumdar who was supposed to lead the march from the Howrah Maidan was also detained by the Bengal Police.
Notably, many police officers have also been reported injured during the attack first launched by the West Bengal Police. TMC alleges that ACP Debjit Chatterjee who is undergoing treatment at the state-run SSKM hospital was beaten by the BJP workers. A case of a murder attempt has been filed in connection with the incident.
