Mamata injury: CM says “was pushed by crowd”, does not say conspiracy

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Thursday issued a video statement claiming she was “pushed by crowd” and her “legs had got squeezed in the car doors” leading to injuries.

She refrained from calling the incident a conspiracy, an allegation she has clearly made on Wednesday evening after sustaining leg injuries during a poll campaign in Nandigram, at East Midnapore district of the state.

Her party leaders, however, wrote to the Election Commission protesting the incident, that they called “an attack” and a “deep-rooted conspiracy to take the life of party Chairperson”.

“I suffered injuries in the leg, shoulder, ligament and head. I felt feverish, had chest pain and headache. I was greeting people from the bonnet of my car, when there was a push-back (referring to the crowd). The car door slammed on me and hurt me. There was further push back and I was hurt,” the Chief Minister said in the video message issued from the hospital.

Appealing to her supporters to remain calm and “maintain decorum”, Banerjee said, she will resume her campaigning in the “next few days”.

“Do not worry, I will resume work in the next two to three days. I’m not cutting back on poll campaigning. I have ligament injuries. But I might use a wheel chair (to campaign) and seek your cooperation in this regard,” she said.

Alleged attack

Banerjee is contesting against her protege turned bete noire, Suvendu Adhikari, in Nandigram. She submitted her nomination papers on Wednesday after which she was supposed to attend some religious programme. It was during one such program that the incident occurred.

The Chief Minister had then alleged a conspiracy and said, “Four to five miscreants pushed her and slammed the car door on her legs.”

Banerjee further claimed that “no police officers were present” at the spot when the incident took place. She complained of a swollen leg and pain in her feet, fever, chest pain and breathlessness. She was immediately rushed to SSKM Hospital where the Chief Minister has been admitted.

Political turmoil

Post the injury, the Trinamool and BJP workers have been fighting with one another - both physically and across social media platforms. Blockades were put up in different parts of the states.

Trinamool called the incident a “conspiracy”, while the BJP said it was a “drama” to get “sympathy votes”.

Earlier in the day, the Trinamool Congress top brass wrote to the Election Commission pointing out that recent changes in the police top brass have affected functioning, could possibly lead to law and order issues and “destabilise the state administration”.

Meanwhile, the BJP, which met the Election Commission separately, demanded an “enquiry” into the alleged attack and security breach. The saffron party has requested that video garbs of the incident be put out in the public domain “to clear the air”.

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