JP Nadda’s cavalcade stoned in Abhishek Banerjee’s constituency in Bengal
The assault on top Central and Bengal BJP leaders was telecast live by several Bengali news channels. Vehicles of some media houses were also damaged in the attack.
The vehicles of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president J P Nadda, national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, West Bengal unit president Dilip Ghosh and several other state and national leaders of the saffron party were stoned while they were going to attend an organizational meeting at Diamond Harbour in South 24 Parganas district on Thursday afternoon.
The assault was telecast live by several Bengali news channels. Vehicles of some media houses were also damaged.
Diamond Harbour is the Lok Sabha constituency of Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Over the last few weeks, the BJP has sharpened its attack on Abhishek Banerjee and the chief minister, calling them bhaipo (nephew in Bengali) and pishi (aunt) at almost every public meeting and in social media posts.
The windows and windshields of several vehicles were smashed in the attack on Thursday. Vijayvargiya and BJP national secretary Anupam Hazra were hurt by pieces of stones. The BJP leadership alleged that the attack was planned to foil Nadda’s programme and there were no policemen along the highway connecting Kolkata to Diamond Harbour.
“Bengal has become a state of lawlessness and a state of intolerance. It is because of the blessings of Maa Durga that I reached here. The hooligans of the Trinamool Congress left no stones unturned to stop us. I am safe because I have a bullet proof car,” Nadda said while addressing party workers at the meeting.
“This mentality to crush democracy has to be crushed. We need your cooperation and blessings. This government needs to be ousted. Is this the culture Rabindranath Tagore and Rishi Aurobindo left for us?” said Nadda.
“Eight BJP workers were killed last month. More than 130 of them have been killed in recent years. It is a shame on democracy. There is no administration. We could not have moved in the state if we did not have security cover. I can understand what our workers must be facing. Democracy has collapsed here. Prepare for elections. The lotus will bloom in Diamond Harbour,” said Nadda.
No police officer commented on the incident till 1.45 pm. Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar wrote a tweet on the incident and said the government took no precaution.
“Concerned at alarming reports of anarchy and lawlessness @MamataOfficial indicating ruling party harmads on rampage at BJP President Convoy and political police @WBPolice in support. This happening inspite of my alerts to CS & DGP early morning indicated collapse of law & order,” tweeted the governor.
Harmad is an almost a 200-year-old word people in Bengal’s coastal belt coined for Portuguese pirates but these days it is commonly used in reference to people involved in political violence.
The chief secretary and the director general of police are supposed to meet the governor in the evening. It is a pre-scheduled meeting
Also Read: ‘Lotus will bloom in Bengal in 2021’: BJP chief JP Nadda after convoy attacked
Bengal panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee alleged at a press conference that Nadda has been provoking people since Wednesday and the attack could have been carried out by BJP workers with an ulterior motive.
“We have seen the BJP carrying out such attacks on their own people in other states. The government will conduct an inquiry. If it is found that our men were involved, then we will definitely take action. Action will also be taken if BJP workers were behind it,” said Mukherjee.
“We have reports that the BJP has been circulating provocative videos when Nadda’s convoy was on the move. I urge our party supporters to stay away from BJP people,” said Mukherjee.
State Urban development minister Firhad Hakim suggested that the state government was not asked for security cover for Nadda.
“They did not even inform the state government who is coming and who is going. The Central government provides security cover to Nadda and other BJP leaders. If they had asked for security cover, we would have made arrangements,” Hakim said on the sidelines of a TMC programme.
BJP state unit chief Dilip Ghosh told the media that the attack was a proof of how security of opposition leaders is at stake.
“This is a breach in security although the state government was informed about the programme. Abhishek Banerjee’s men attacked the cars and assaulted our local supporters as well. They were attached with stones and sticks,” said Ghosh.
Bottles were thrown at an SUV in which Ghosh’s security personnel were travelling. Ghosh was travelling in Nadda’s car.
On Wednesday, Nadda was shown black flags by a group of Hindi-speaking youths outside the new office of the party in south Kolkata shortly after he arrived in the city on a two-day visit.
The demonstrators condemned the new farm laws and shouted “J P Nadda murdabad, BJP murdabad” (down with J P Nadda, down with the BJP). The agitators were not carrying flags of any political party.
It was a snap demonstration that caught the police and BJP workers by surprise. The demonstrators climbed up on the cars parked outside the office and raised slogans.
This was the first time any BJP leader in Bengal faced a demonstration on the farm laws issue.
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