KOLKATA: West Bengal BJP President Dilip Ghosh was allegedly manhandled and his vehicle was vandalised by a group of Trinamool Congress (TMC) supporters at Rajarhat, around five km from Kolkata, on Wednesday morning when Ghosh had gone for a morning walk.
The incident took place when Dilip Ghosh was heading towards a local market to meet local people as part of his regular 'Chai Pe Charcha', an outreach drive initiated by the Bengal’s saffron camp.
"I have shifted to the Rajarhat-Newtown area from Salt Lake two days ago. I left for a morning walk as usual and I was scheduled to visit a tea stall at nearby Kochpukur village where our party workers were waiting. Before I could reach there, Trinamool supporters waylaid me. They manhandled me and attacked my security guards. The local police were informed about my visit to the area, but they did nothing," alleged Ghosh.
Ghosh said when he finally managed to reach the tea stall, he found broken chairs lying on the road.
"You can imagine the law and order situation in Bengal. I don’t know any Trinamool Congress is scared of me,’’ Ghosh added.
Ghosh alleged the attack was carried out by local Trinamool leader Tapas Chatterjee, who refuted the allegation.
TMC MP Sudip Bandopadhyay said his party does not believe in violence. ‘’Every day, the BJP is accusing Trinamool Congress and our party is denying it. If they think the results of 2019 Lok Sabha polls will be reflected in the assembly elections next year, it will be wrong,’’ he said.
However, other political parties in Bengal condemned the incident. Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury condemned the incident. "Many may not agree with the ideology of the BJP. Similarly, everyone may not accept TMC’s ideology. The attack on Ghosh is not acceptable,’’ he said.
CPI(M) MLA Sujan Chakrabarty said every political party should have freedom to carry out its activities. ‘’Suppressing voice opposition is against democracy. We condemn the attack on Ghosh,’’ he said.