KOLKATA: The convoy of Union Minister Nisith Pramanik was attacked on Saturday allegedly by Trinamool Congress supporters in Dinhata area of West Bengal's Cooch Behar district.
The windshield of Pramanik’s car was smashed after the TMC supporters pelted stones at the convoy. Police lobbed tear gas shells to disperse the attackers.
Pramanik accused the police of being inactive. "The police acted as mere spectators. Instead of taking action, they shielded the attackers. People of the state are witnessing what is being done by TMC supporters in the state,’’ he alleged.
A clash between the supporters of the TMC and BJP broke out after the incident. A local office of the ruling party was ransacked.
According to the police, the incident took place when Pramanik’s convoy, escorted by the central force personnel, was passing along a road in Dinhata, Pramanik’s hometown.
"A group of local people, who assembled beside the road, showed black flags and then started pelting stones. A few stones hit Pramanik’s car and its front windshield. However, the minister received no injuries in the incident,’’ said a police officer.
Reacting to the incident, BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya said, "If a central minister’s car is attacked in this manner, then think about the security of the common people in the state. The police are protecting the TMC’s goons. I request the governor of the state to intervene.’’
Police lobbed several rounds of tear gas shells to quell the violent attackers. As the news of the attack on the minister’s convoy spread, BJP supporters clashed with TMC men in Dinhata town.
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said the TMC had no involvement in the incident. "It was a reflection of common people’s anger against the minister and the BJP-led central government. The Centre is not clearing the state’s dues. Poor people are not getting wages under the 100-day job scheme as the Union government is still yet to release the fund. It was angry local people and a section of BJP’s men, who are involved in the infighting within the BJP, who were responsible for the incident,’’ he said.
The ruling TMC dubbed the allegation as "baseless".
The attack came within a week after TMC's daylong sit-in near the residence of Pramanik, the union minister of state for home, at Bhetaguri in Cooch Behar, seeking justice for an "innocent Rajbanshi youth who was branded as cattle smuggler and shot dead by the BSF".
"My convoy was not only pelted with stones but also shots were fired. Bombs were also hurled. The entire incident happened in front of the police, and they were just mute spectators," Pramanik claimed.