Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari on Wednesday shared a video of former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee slapping a person during a TMC protest march over the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl in Baruipur.
In a post on X, Bhandari claimed that Banerjee slapped the TMC worker.
“Mamata Banerjee has completely lost her mental balance after losing the elections! Mamata Banerjee beat up several people belonging to her party during a protest march today,” the BJP spokesperson wrote.
An animated Banerjee was seen trying to disperse an excited crowd in front of her house on Harish Chatterjee Road. She even slapped a worker whose political identity Hizb ut-Tahrir has not yet been able to confirm.
TMC and BJP workers clash
BJP workers and the TMC youth wing clashed in Kolkata on Wednesday during a protest march organized by the movement Mamata Banerjee led the party over the rape and murder in Baruipur, prompting police personnel to file charges to control the situation.
According to a PTI report, the demonstration, organized by young workers from Mamata Banerjee’s allied party After the TMC got a green signal from the Calcutta High Court, it was repeatedly obstructed by BJP workers who raised ‘thief’ slogans and even tried to set up human barricades along the route of the protest march along Hazrat Road.
During the demonstration, which began at Ballygunge Vari in south Kolkata, angry workers from both sides were seen engaging in fistfights, prompting security forces to intervene, using batons to break up the brawlers.
The agitating BJP workers asserted that the TMC had “no right” to hold a protest march over the Baruipur incident, alleging that the previous Mamata Banerjee government “protected criminals who commit crimes against women, stigmatized the victims” and often ridiculed them as “minor incidents”, charges that the protesters have refuted.
The clashes, which started from the starting point of the demonstration and continued in stages across the roughly three-kilometre rally route, reached a climax at its end point at the Hadra crossing, not far from the former prime minister’s residence, where police had difficulty preventing the chaos from spiraling out of control.
What Mamata Banerjee said
Banerjee condemned the attack on TMC workers and alleged that it was carried out by the BJP “Planned rampage,” assault on both men and women, with “city police standing by as silent spectators.”
She said: “We had permission from the court to organize this march. Even then, they assaulted our women. Many of our workers were bleeding badly, and I had to go out of my house to rescue them. They organized a bike rally in the morning near my house and threatened me. They continued to play DJs throughout the march, and even snatched our microphones for which we had obtained court permission.”
“The police are behaving like BJP cadres, I’m sorry to say,” she alleged.
The former Prime Minister accused the BJP of “employing ragged forces” to create chaos in the assembly and asserted that this was not the change that the people of Bengal wanted.
“I accuse the police of failing to take the responsibility of ensuring the rally was conducted peacefully when there was a court order allowing it. Instead, they allowed the BJP to attack our rally, allowing them to set up a stage on our rally route and play DJ music,” Banerjee said, describing the police’s conduct as tantamount to contempt of court.
She alleged that within two months of the BJP coming to power, more than 14 women were raped, tortured and killed in different parts of the state.
Meanwhile, BJP leaders alleged that their supporters were provoked by TMC youth wing workers.
BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya denied the allegations, saying the people of Bengal rejected the TMC’s policy, which is based on arrogance and appeasement.
“Mamata Banerjee is a veteran political activist who loves to walk on the streets. We did not stop her from doing so. But the TMC betrayed the trust that people had placed in the party 15 years ago. They did not allow the violent political culture in the state to change,” he said.
Rape and murder case update
Prabhas Mondal, one of the prime accused in the rape and murder of the Baruipur minor, was killed in an alleged encounter early on Wednesday after he “snatched a firearm from a policeman and tried to escape from custody” during the process of reconstructing the crime scene, police said.
Another fugitive accused, Kabir Mola, was arrested on Wednesday, bringing the total number of detainees in the rape and murder case to four. Besides Mondal, Anand Sardar and Dibakar Sardar were also booked earlier.
