Kolkata: All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee was roughed up on Saturday, May 30, allegedly by locals, when he visited West Bengal’s Sonarpur area to meet families of post-poll violence victims, police said.
Stones, shoes, and eggs were hurled at the TMC MP by unidentified people who even attempted to rain blows and kicks on him. They shouted ‘thief’ slogans at Banerjee and called him “Bangladeshi.”
Why did you not visit when RG Kar rape incident happened? Angry residents
The attack, led mostly by local women in the Kamrabad area falling under ward 9 of Rajpur-Sonarpur municipality, was, allegedly, an explosion of the pent-up anger accrued on account of years of “torture perpetrated by TMC-run syndicates and extortion rackets” and abject lack of governance leading to broken roads, clogged drains and poor drinking water supply.
Holding broomsticks and bamboo sticks, they gathered outside the house of the TMC party worker Banerjee visited.
Questioning the purpose of his visit, they raised slogans against Banerjee.
“Why has he come here? The person whose house he has come to visit is also a thief. It is like a thief visiting another thief,” one of the protesting women alleged.
“Where was he (Abhishek) when the Abhaya incident (RG Kar rape and murder) happened? How many times had he gone to meet the parents of Abhaya? We want an answer from him,” another protesting woman said.
Another protester said that Banerjee “had it coming” since the day he issued “veiled threats” from pre-election rallies.
“He had said from campaign stages that he would play DJ music from May 4 after results were declared and no father-figure from Delhi would come to protect us. That’s why we have gathered here today to pay him back in his own coin,” he said.
Television footage from the scene captured the intensity of the confrontation, showing a visibly shaken Banerjee being escorted through the area under heavy personal security and local TMC workers.
They wanted to kill me: Banerjee
Wearing a police-issued helmet for protection, the TMC leader was seen with his shirt torn amid the melee, underscoring the volatile nature of the incident.
Banerjee was seen being escorted out of the area with a police helmet on and his shirt tattered.
“Look what they have done to me. This was pre-planned. There is no police in the area. They want to kill me. I will not leave this place till the local police send their force and offer protection to the victims’ families,” Banerjee said while meeting the family of a deceased post-poll violence victim.
Later, after the attack, a visibly upset Banerjee told reporters that he would “definitely move the High Court.”
“They threw a brick, threw an egg, and pelted stones. Please tell me what this is. And all the people standing nearby, the people of the area they are still meeting us and still greeting us with love and respect. Go and ask those who are doing hooliganism here,” he said.
“We have all the video evidence. There’s a community hall nearby. From 11 am onwards, goons were kept in that community hall to pelt stones. Look at what’s happened to my glasses. They hit my eye with a brick, and I can’t open my eye. He’s punched me in the back, chest, arm, and leg. I was wearing a helmet; otherwise, my head would have been split in two. You can make my body fall, but my resolve is strong and strong, the passion and enthusiasm are still there, and this head won’t bow down.”
Another video shows women gathered in large numbers, holding eggs and ready to throw them at Banerjee.
True face exposed: TMC slams BJP
The TMC slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party, calling the attack on Banerjee a “reminder” of how swiftly the law and order has deteriorated under the “shameless regime.”
“If a sitting Opposition MP can be targeted in broad daylight, what hope is there for ordinary citizens? Is this BJP’s idea of democracy? Is this the “good governance” that PM Modi never stops boasting about?” the party wrote on X.
“Violence, intimidation and political hooliganism have become the defining features of BJP’s rule. Those responsible may enjoy political patronage today, but they cannot escape accountability forever. Bengal is watching. India is watching. The world is watching,” it added.
Later, Mamata Banerjee told reporters that they are shifting her nephew from Apollo to another hospital. “We are shifting Abhishek from here as there is no treatment,” she alleged.
Result of public resentment, no party’s hand: BJP
The BJP said that the attack on Banerjee was the result of “public anger and resentment” towards the previous ruling party in West Bengal.
MP Dinesh Sharma said, “The way they (Trinamool) have committed atrocities against people, against mothers and sisters, so many people have been killed, BJP workers have been killed, so people’s anger towards him is justified.”
However, Sharma added that there is no need to take the law into one’s own hands. “I would appeal to everyone that violence cannot be answered in the same way. We cannot support any kind of violence,” he said.
Echoing a similar view, BJP MP Rahul Sinha added, “People are so angry over Abhishek Banerjee that not only in West Bengal, he would be treated in the same manner, because they (Trinamool) have committed atrocities against the common people.” He said it is the people’s “natural reaction”.
Condemnation from all quarters
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge condemned the attack, stating the lack of police protection “speaks volumes about BJP’s politics of vendetta.”
“The deliberate lack of adequate police protection for a prominent Opposition leader speaks volumes about the BJP’s politics of vendetta and persecution,” he said.
Kharge demanded that the state and Union governments secure opposition leaders and take steps to prevent such attacks.
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, termed the attack as “ugly face of BJP’s revenge politics.”
“The attack on MP Abhishek Banerjee in Sonarpur is utterly reprehensible. An attack on a Member of Parliament is not merely an assault on one individual—it is an assault on the very people who elected him, and on the democracy that is our shared legacy,” said his X post.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav also came down on the saffron party, alleging the party of “orchestrating” the attack.
“By orchestrating a murderous attack on Shri Abhishek Banerjee ji, a key leader of the Trinamool Congress in Bengal, the anarchic BJP government in Bengal has proven that the BJP is capable of nothing but hate-filled, negative, violent politics,” he wrote on X.
“Even in such a sensitive environment, the absence of police arrangements points to a major conspiracy. Utterly condemnable!”
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal said the incident is “deeply worrying”
“Wherever the BJP comes to power, intimidation and violence take center stage. BJP just can’t tolerate a strong opposition. West Bengal has fallen prey to BJP’s politics of hate,” read his X post.
