TMC chief Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday staged a sit-in protest in Kolkata over alleged attacks on party leaders, including her nephew Abhishek Banerjee. The protest came a day after police denied permission to the West Bengal ruling party to organise demonstrations.
Addressing supporters, Mamata accused the BJP of “manipulating vote counting in 177 out of 294 Assembly seats to secure victory in Bengal elections.” She further alleged that TMC leaders in the state were facing intimidation by the police.
Targeting rebels within her party, Mamata said, “My regret is that those who received my support throughout their lives are now aligning with traitors.”
She also challenged the BJP to arrest her if they wished, saying that if she were not allowed to protest in Kolkata, she would take her protest to Delhi.
A large crowd, including TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee, gathered at the protest site in support of the demonstration.
“The police are attempting to weaken a political party. If I am not allowed to protest democratically here, I will take my protest to Delhi. We also have an INDIA bloc meeting scheduled,” Mamata said on Monday.
She further alleged, “You targeted Bengal and caused our defeat through SIR and other discrepancies. Elections were manipulated in 177 constituencies, and voting machines were tampered with. I have personally suffered too – I was removed from the counting center despite leading by 13,000 votes.”
Last week, Abhishek Banerjee faced protests in Sonarpur on the southern outskirts of Kolkata and was also issued a CID summons in connection with a fake-signature case.
The 38-year-old MP was reportedly chased, heckled, and physically assaulted by a crowd while traveling to meet the family of a TMC worker who was killed in post-poll violence in Sonarpur. Protesters allegedly raised slogans of “chor, chor” (thief, thief), threw eggs, stones, and slippers at him, and tore his shirt. During the nearly 10-minute incident, he was reportedly punched and slapped, while his spectacles were also damaged.