Chicken patty becomes a fresh flashpoint in West Bengal politics; Mamata Banerjee condemns BJP over vendor attack

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party for felicitating three men with saffron party links, who allegedly assaulted a Muslim vendor named Sheikh Riajul, for selling chicken patties near the Brigade Parade ground in Kolkata on December 7, during the mass Gita recital programme. Mamata Banerjee had also slammed the BJP at her public meeting in Nadia on Thursday. “At every gathering, there are hawkers who sell food. You have beaten a poor hawker. I have arrested all those who assaulted him. This is Bengal, not Uttar Pradesh," said Banerjee.

The three men who were arrested on Thursday, were later let out on bail by a city court while denying the police’s request for a seven-day remand. Leader of Opposition (LoP) Suvendu Adhikari had felicitated the three of them the same evening, calling them ‘brave warriors’. TMC hit out on Friday saying, “By felicitating the very men arrested for assaulting two chicken-patty vendors, @SuvenduWB didn’t just cross a line, he ripped the mask off the BJP and exposed the machinery beneath: terror, moral policing, and state-sponsored street criminals.”

“Three Hindu warriors, Soumik Bhai, Swarnendu Bhai and Tarun Bhai, were felicitated in Kolkata today in the presence of venerable saints. The Honourable Court granted them bail today. Banerjee, know that you cannot suppress the Sanatanis by unleashing your cronies, the police. The fight of the Sanatanis to protect religion will continue, and I, along with countless Hindutva activists, stand by every Hindu participating in this fight," read Suvendu Adhikari’s social media post on Thursday.

A video of Sheikh Riajul, which was widely circulated on social media, showed the vendor being questioned by a group of men surrounding him on why he was selling chicken patties near the Bhagwad Gita recital event. The patty vendor was made to do sit-ups, after which he was slapped when he was asked what his name was. Though Riajul said he would leave the venue, he was abused and assaulted by the men, who then threw the patties that he carried in his box to sell.

The mass chanting of Bhagwad Gita by five lakh voices was attended by West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose and senior BJP leaders, including Adhikari, former state president Dilip Ghosh, and Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar.