Workers attacked, vehicles burnt to stop Diamond Harbour rally: BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul

West Bengal MLA Agnimitra Paul in an exclusive interview with India Today said workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were assaulted and their vehicles were burnt to stop them from attending Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari’s rally in Diamond Harbour on Saturday. She added that women party workers were not spared.

Suvendu Adhikari was scheduled to address a rally in Diamond Harbour where TMC’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee is the sitting Lok Sabha member.

Agnimitra Paul told India Today that Abhishek Banerjee sent goons to stop the rally and tried to break the stage set up at the rally site. “However, our workers were here the entire night in the cold and by morning, the stage was built,” she added.

She continued, “Then their next strategy was to block our party workers from coming to the rally site. About 100 vehicles were stopped around here. They did not just stop our workers but dragged them out of their vehicles and beat them up. They didn’t spare the women party workers either.”

Paul said Suvendu Adhikari called her at around 12 pm and asked her to immediately go to Hatuganj area to speak to the police to let the vehicles of the party workers go.

“But when I reached there, the police were not there and TMC workers had blocked the road. As soon as we reached there, they started sloganeering. They asked why the price of fuel and gas cylinders was increasing,” she said.

“This is the state of West Bengal”, she said.

She took a jibe at the Mamata Banerjee-led government in the state and said, “Mamata Banerjee celebrates Constitution Day but there is no democracy in the state.”

Speaking on the reports of violence that have come up in the state ahead of the panchayat elections next year, Paul said, “The first phase of Gujarat elections was held without any disturbances but here, panchaya election dates has not been announced yet and violence has already started.”

She also spoke on the blast that took place in Contai on Friday and alleged that TMC workers are behind the incident. “This is the doing of TMC workers and if they have a problem with what we are saying, they should let the National Investigating Agency (NIA) investigate,” said Paul.

She added that the only working cottage industry in West Bengal is that of the “bomb factory”.

Two people were killed while two sustained injuries late on Friday night after an alleged bomb blast occurred at the residence of TMC booth president Rajkumar Manna in the Bhupatinagar area in Purba Medinipur district.

The blast took place only 1.5 km from Contai, where TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee was scheduled to address a public meeting on Saturday.

She also demanded central forces for security cover for the upcoming panchayat elections and said it is possible that a “bloodbath will happen like in 2018” if proper security is not deployed.

The West Bengal panchayat elections are likely to be held in March 2023.