I could have died too: Mamata

Photo: Collected

News Desk: Former Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee’s car was allegedly attacked today, Sunday, in North 24 Parganas district. She claimed that some miscreants attacked her car with bricks and stones, which could have pushed her to the brink of death. The state BJP condemned the attack and denied any involvement in the incident.

Mamata faced protests in Halisahar while she was on her way to visit the home of a party worker who allegedly died in police custody. The protesters reportedly surrounded the Trinamool chief’s car, smeared it with mud, and threw shoes and water bottles at it. The area echoed with slogans of “Drive out the thieves,” while police attempted to disperse the protesters.

Mamata later told reporters that she could have died if the bricks and stones had hit her. She said, “Anti-social elements who came from outside threw stones at my car in front of the police. If the car window had not been closed, my head would have been smashed. I could have died. I have never faced such an attack. The police did nothing to protect us. They only protect the BJP.”

Lok Sabha member Kalyan Banerjee and Rajya Sabha member Dola Sen, who were accompanying Mamata, also expressed their anger against the administration.

The Lok Sabha member said, “(Chief Minister) Shuvendu Adhikari is running everything by using the police.”

State BJP president Shamik Bhattacharya, who has always said that no form of violence by party workers would be tolerated, condemned the attack on the former chief minister. He said that the BJP had no involvement in the incident and that the police must take action against those responsible.

The incident occurred several months after Mamata’s nephew and Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee was attacked in his constituency following his party’s humiliating defeat in the West Bengal elections.

Mamata Banerjee had gone to North 24 Parganas district this morning to meet the family of Birju Keot, the husband of a former Trinamool councillor, who died in police custody.

Keot was arrested last Friday on allegations of extortion and was sent to five days’ remand by a court. Jenny Sharma, a former councillor of Kanchrapara Municipality, had alleged that her husband was tortured and beaten to death in custody.

Abhishek Banerjee strongly criticized the police, alleging that Keot had been taken into custody even though his name was not mentioned in the FIR.

The Trinamool leader said, “When the state can take a person into custody even though his name is not mentioned in the FIR and he does not return alive, the question is no longer merely one of law and order. It directly becomes a question of the rule of law.”

Police have yet to respond to the allegation of death in police custody.