Clash burst between the BJP and West Bengal’s ruling TMC party workers during a roadshow held by BJP in Kolkata on Monday hours after Mamata Banerjee announced her wish to contest elections from Nandigram. Stones were hurled from both sides.
Visuals of stone-pelting by both sides during a rally attended by Union Minister Debasree Chaudhuri, state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh and Suvendu Adhikari is going viral on social media.
BJP’s rally was scheduled for today to be headed by Suvendu Adhikari, who has recently joined BJP after resigning from Trinamool Congress.
As BJPs roadshow was underway, TMC workers showed black flags to the BJP rally after which violence erupted and slogans were chanted ‘go back’. This happened just after hours of Mamata’s announcement.
In a video, stones are pelted on the protesting TMC workers from the BJP cavalcade after which the TMC workers requited by pelting stones on the other side.
What did Mamata Banerjee announce?
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday during an address to a rally in Nandigram, Kolkata expressed her wish to contest the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections.
Mamata Banerjee said, "I want to request Subrata Bakshi [TMC general secretary], it is my wish, I will not neglect Bhabanipur, I will give a good candidate [for Bhabanipur] but I want my name in Nandigram. Due to my love for Nandigram, I could not control my emotions".
Importance of Nandigram in Bengal polls.
Ms Banerjee’s big announcement is to show her long stint in power in Bengal. Nandigram has been an important battleground for polls. A huge public protest against coercive land procurement by the then Left Front government for the creation of a special economic zone was witnessed in Nandigram.
These prolonged and other bloody protests led Mamata Banerjee and her party TMC to come in power in 2011. This caused the end of 34 years of Left Front rule in Bengal.
Also Read: Mamata Banerjee will contest election from Nandigam against former aide Suvendu Adhikari
Suvendu Adhikari is viewed as the face of the movement in Nandigram, some 130 km south-west of Kolkata.
After joining BJP Suvendu Adhikari has at several occasions blamed Mamata Banerjee for forgetting the people of the area who have helped her gain the power as a CM.