Trinamul workers up in arms; 15 BJP men injured
“I am shocked, but not scared. Let him arrest all of us. I openly challenge him to arrest me. Let me see his guts. He may silence others, but not me. He can not suppress our voice. He can’t bulldoze people’s voice,” she said.
“We will fight legal battle in every case. The party is behind Sudip. He has not done anything wrong. Even if he is in jail, the people of Bengal will keep him in their hearts,” she told reporters.
Trinamul national spokesman Derek O’Brien said an emergency meeting of the party was held where it was decided that all its Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members will go to Delhi on Wednesday and protest against the “financial emergency” and other “emergency” in the country.
Meanwhile, BJP reacted strongly to Mamata’s allegation of “vendetta politics” with BJP national secretary incharge of West Bengal Siddharth Nath Singh saying the “sins” of her rule were being exposed by the law now. Kolkata, Jan. 3: Agitated over the arrest of Sudip Bandyopadhyay, a confidante of Trinamul supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, hordes of party workers descended on the BJP office in central Kolkata, shouting anti-Narendra Modi slogans and hurling stones, leaving several workers of the saffron party injured and half-adozen cars parked outside damaged.
BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha claimed 15 party workers were injured in the attack. As the protest continued, a CRPF contingent was rushed to secure BJP office and ensure safety of its workers. “We appealed to the Union home ministry to send in the CRPF to ensure our safety and security. A contingent of CRPF was sent to the BJP office to ensure our safety,” Sinha said. Sinha said five to six cars belonging to the party were damaged and Modi’s effigies set alight, he said.
“More than 10-15 workers of our party received severe injuries. Stones were hurled at cars parked outside. Is this democracy? A person who has looted public money has been arrested. So why are they protesting against our party office,” he asked.
Sinha was present inside the party office during the attack.
Incidentally, the BJP office is situated in central Kolkata which is part of Sudip’s Sabha constituency. — PTI