In a mockery of the BJP’s ‘Poriburton’ (change) slogan, the TMC said change had arrived with a bulldozer.
Tensions in West Bengal refuse to subside after the announcement of election results, with the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which recently won by a huge margin in the state, carried out “bulldozer action”.
The TMC shared a video on social media on Tuesday night, alleging that BJP workers and supporters bulldozed Kolkata’s New Market area as well as the TMC party office.
The video shows a crowd of people surrounding a bulldozer that appears to be crushing a store in the area, amid loud cheers and music.
Read also: Mamata Banerjee takes a dig: He says he did not lose, and will not resign from the post of chief minister
In a mockery of the BJP’s ‘Poriburton’ (change) slogan, the TMC said change had arrived with a bulldozer.
“BJP’s ‘Poriborton’ has arrived, and he has arrived with a bulldozer. In an act of brazen and gundagardi riots, mobs of BJP supporters went on a rampage near the New Market area, destroying shops and vandalizing the Trinamool Congress office. This is the celebration of a party that spoke of trust and delivered terror,” the TMC wrote in the post.
She also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, saying that national BJP leaders had given their workers a “licence to run on the streets” and “kill whomever they please”.
“Narendra Modi and Amit Shah handed over their Karyakartas a license to run wild on the streets, destroy everything that stands in their way, attack and brutalize anyone and kill anyone they please,” the statement said, adding that central forces had been instructed to “stand down and let this happen.”
Also read: Lost in SIR debate: Muslim drain on Trinamool Congress
The outgoing party also issued a warning, saying action would be taken today on shops, tomorrow could include political opponents of the BJP, and then “statues of Bengal’s icons will be there”.
“Ultimately, they will be the homes of the poor and the weak. But wherever the BJP bulldozer moves in Bengal, it will hit a wall. A wall of resistance and defiance. We will fight the policy of state-sponsored terrorism.”
“Cheap violence and barbarism”
TMC leader Mahua Moitra also shared the video and wrote, “Kolkata’s historic new market. Bengalis having fun at Parivartan.”
Earlier, in another post on Tuesday, she had pointed out that “anarchic violence” and “rioting” are happening in every corner of Bengal.
“Communal slogans and hate speech even before taking oath should prepare Bengalis for the upcoming Parivartan,” she said.
This comes after the BJP won the West Bengal Assembly elections with a historic mandate by bagging 207 of the total 294 seats, while the incumbent Trinamool Congress managed only 80 seats.
Mamata Banerjee, who lost her seat to BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, has refused to resign from the post of chief minister claiming that she and her party did not lose.
Nikita Sharma is a senior content producer at Hindustan Times. She is a Delhi-based digital journalist with five years of experience in writing and editing news stories in various fields including crime, politics, technology, trends and much more, both nationally and internationally. At Hindustan Times, she is part of the news team and focuses on breaking news, tracking what’s happening everywhere, and constantly chasing evolving news stories. She has a penchant for covering crime, geopolitics and Indian politics with a keen eye for stories that are often overlooked in the daily news cycle. At Hindustan Times, she has extensively covered several major events including the US Presidential Election, Indian Airlines plane crash, Pahalgam terror attack, Operation Sindoor, US tariff war, among others. As a Delhi enthusiast, she especially enjoys wandering around and writing about the national capital – its heritage, food, art and culture, and the many problems that come with it – pollution, waterlogging, traffic, and more. Nikita holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from GGSIPU and started working as a digital journalist in 2021. During her first assignment, she covered local news in a Delhi-based newsroom, writing and editing stories on conflicts between builders and buyers, civic issues like potholes, waterlogging, lack of facilities in hospitals in Delhi, and paralyzing the city during the peak monsoon season. She has also written articles covering Delhi art galleries, heritage walks, artist profiles, museums, Hindustani classical music concerts and dance performances. She entered mainstream news in 2023 and previously worked at NDTV.Read more
