Fact-finding team of BJP tears into Abhishek Banerjee

 Jungle raj had descended on Bengal, said Lal, who led a fact-finding team set up by BJP president J.P. Nadda to probe the alleged police atrocities on the September 13

Abhishek Banerjee.: File photo

Arkamoy Datta Majumdar   |   TT  |  Calcutta   |   18.09.22 : BJP Rajya Sabha member Brij Lal on Saturday lashed out at Trinamul MP Abhishek Banerjee for his recent shoot-at-head comment in connection with the vandalism during a BJP march in Calcutta.

Lal, who led a five-member fact-finding team set up by BJP president J.P. Nadda to probe the alleged police atrocities on the September 13 Nabanna Abhiyan, said “jungle raj” had descended on Bengal under Mamata Banerjee.“The nephew of the chief minister (Abhishek) said he would have shot the protesters in the head.... This statement reflects his dombho (arrogance). The excesses against the BJP workers were carried out on the instructions of the political bosses of the ruling party,” Lal told journalists after he met injured BJP worker Soumik Halder at Calcutta Medical College.

“We will teach them a lesson in 2024 (Lok Sabha polls),” he added. On September 14, a day after the march, Abhishek went to meet police officer Debjit Chatterjee, who was allegedly beaten up by BJP workers, at SSKM hospital. He came out and told the media that he would have shot at the heads of protesters who burnt police vehicles and thrashed police workers had he been in Chatterjee’s place. The fact-finding team also went to meet BJP councillor Meena Devi Purohit, injured on Tuesday, at her residence. Later, the team marched into Hare Street police station where some BJP workers arrested on arson charges during the Nabanna march are being kept. After spending some time inside, Lal said he had spoken to two policemen.

“The police must remember that they swear by the Constitution and must work by it. Governments will change, but the police must not forget their duty,” Lal, a former DGP of Uttar Pradesh, said, alleging that the police manhandled BJP workers under Trinamul orders.

Trinamul minister Sashi Panja refuted the BJP’s allegations and said what happened on September 13 was hooliganism by BJP cadres. She called the fact-finding team “political tourists” who are “uttering lies and are trying to create confusion”. She asked why the team did not visit injured ACP Chatterjee at the SSKM.