Six persons have been arrested in connection with the vandalism of Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Abhishek Banerjee’s Camac Street office in Kolkata. They have been produced before a court and taken into police custody for further questioning.
Preliminary reports suggest that the six accused are from Howrah. However, whether they have any political affiliations and what motivated the vandalism remain unclear.
While the TMC alleges that the police remained bystanders during the ransacking and did not act in time, the police say they took action after receiving a complaint from the TMC via email. A specific case has since been registered. The incident occurred around 4:30 a.m.
“We got information from the local police station just before 6:00 a.m. that a few people were resorting to vandalism at Camac Street. Immediately, around 6:00 a.m., police from the local station reached the spot. Six people were arrested at the spot, and a few things which were ransacked were seized from them. People are still being identified,” said Kunal Agarwal, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime).
The six arrested persons have been identified as Shankar Rao, Avinash Shaw, Sukdev Gupta, Suraj Shaw, Bhombol Mondol and Rohit Poral. Some material was seized from outside the building, while other items were recovered from their possession. There were around 12 people in total, and the others are being identified using CCTV footage. Efforts are also underway to seize additional material.
Former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee condemned the ransacking and questioned the need to steal computers from the office.
“They trapped four of our staff. They tortured them. They vandalised the office. They did it under the watch of the Shakespeare Sarani police by taking them into confidence,” said Mamata Banerjee.
The former CM appealed to the Supreme Court to look into the situation in West Bengal while applauding the apex court for intervening in the student protests at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.
Mamata also lashed out at current CM Suvendu Adhikari, saying she has not been provided Z-Plus security and that all her security has been withdrawn.
Speaking about alleged atrocities against her party while it is in the opposition, Mamata said that, if need be, she would rush to Delhi and sit on a dharna in front of BJP leaders' houses. However, she also said her party does not want to violate rules.
“You can stop the opposition some of the time, but you cannot stop the opposition all of the time,” added Mamata, rephrasing a famous quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln.
TMC MPs lashed out at the BJP over the attack and said they had appealed to the President of the country and the West Bengal Governor to intervene.
“In the morning, we sent a letter to the President and Governor,” said TMC MP Derek O’Brien.
The MPs also questioned the delayed response from the police while raising questions about the motive behind the attack.
“One of the first things they did was turn off the CCTV system. However, we managed to retrieve footage from a camera they apparently missed, and we also have other video footage showing the aftermath. We began calling the police around 4:30 a.m. and continued for nearly two hours, but no one came. Eventually, our lawyers went to the police station. The police arrived only sometime between 6:30 and 7 a.m., roughly two and a half hours after the incident began,” said MP Mahua Moitra.
“I see this as nothing but complete lawlessness and a breakdown of law and order. When a political party's office is attacked in this manner, it is not merely an attack on a building or an office; it is an attack on the democratic system itself,” said MP Saugata Roy.
The BJP, however, denied that it was behind the attack, calling it the result of an internal feud within the TMC.
“When Abhishek Banerjee was a powerful leader and those with whom he was unfair, those are coming forward and beating them. What can police do? Still police arrested them. Trinamool should think,” said BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya.
“BJP does not resort to vandalism; or else they would have vandalised all TMC offices. All TMC offices are intact, though there is a lock because no one goes. Police are investigating and have arrested six people,” said BJP MP Sukanta Majumdar.
The political battle lines have now been drawn between the two parties, with the TMC crying foul over the attack and alleging that it is being targeted and silenced for being in the opposition. The party has accused the BJP of unfairly targeting it through vendetta politics.
