FORMER West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday faced a group of protesters who surrounded her vehicle, raised “chor-chor” slogans and hurled mud and slippers at her car when she went to meet the family of a TMC worker who allegedly died in police custody in North 24 Parganas district. The confrontation turned Banerjee’s visit into a charged political spectacle, with police forming a cordon around her vehicle as protesters blocked its passage, while the rival camps traded accusations of political provocation, public anger and administrative failure. “My car has been attacked with stones, shoes and mud. This is nothing but a conspiracy. I had informed the police that I would be coming, but despite that, no security measures were taken,” Banerjee told reporters after reaching the area. “Forget security. The police are protecting lumpens. Bengal has fallen into the hands of lumpens. We will file a case,” she said. Banerjee alleged that large bricks were also hurled at her vehicle. “My head could have been smashed. We could have died here. The police are protecting the BJP,” she said, accusing Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, who is also in charge of Home department, of using the police and alleged mafia elements to run the state. Banerjee also claimed that the deceased worker’s family was being threatened by BJP supporters. The BJP, however, sought to distance itself from the violence while (Contd arguing that the protest reflected local anger against Banerjee. BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya said the party did not support any attack on the former Chief Minister’s vehicle and denied the involvement of BJP workers. “Such an incident, if it has happened, will blacken the face of West Bengal in the future.

 

We condemn the incident and, if such an incident has taken place, the police under Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari will immediately take action against those responsible,” he said. But BJP MLA from Bijpur Sudipta Das accused Banerjee of seeking political mileage from the death. “This is Mamata Banerjee’s old politics. Just as a vulture looks for a carcass, she too looks for a death in West Bengal and tries to find a way to remain in the media. She has become politically irrelevant,” Das said. “I am with the family as a local and as the MLA. We have been in regular contact with them. The people at whose house this happened are not saying anything. They have faith in us,” he said. Das said he was ready to provide legal assistance to the family over the alleged custodial death, but accused Banerjee of turning the issue into a political campaign. PROTEST FACED BY MAMATA REFLECTS PUBLIC ANGER, CLAIMS SUVENDU: WEST Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday claimed that the protest his predecessor Mamata Banerjee faced at Halisahar in North 24 Parganas district while going to visit the family of a deceased Trinamool Congress worker reflected “strong public anger”. Denying any involvement of the ruling BJP in the incident, Adhikari said, “You (Banerjee) have committed so much theft, you will have to hear people call you a thief.” He questioned why Banerjee did not visit the family of ‘Abhaya’ (fearless), a moniker given to the RG Kar victim by the state’s protesting millions, on the second anniversary of her death.