TMC office vandalised in Kolkata, Abhishek Banerjee alleges BJP role; six detained
TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Thursday alleged that BJP-backed armed men vandalised his party's Camac Street office in Kolkata in the early hours, following which police detained six people.
Banerjee, the Diamond Harbour MP, shared purported CCTV footage of the incident on social media. The footage showed several masked and helmeted men leaving the premises with electronic equipment, including televisions. Another clip showed a room with broken furniture and damaged electronic equipment. PTI could not independently verify the footage.
Banerjee alleged that the armed men entered the office around 4.30 am, assaulted workers, snatched their mobile phones and ransacked the premises.
Rejecting the allegation, BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya said the party did not believe in “politics of revenge” and did not support vandalising anyone's office.
“No BJP workers were involved in the vandalism,” he claimed.
Police said six people had been detained in connection with the incident. A preliminary investigation suggested that those detained had links with the TMC until the Assembly polls, police said.
Banerjee called the incident a “shameful attack on the rule of law” and alleged that both police and BJP workers appeared to “fear neither the law nor the judiciary”.
“Vandalism. Violence. Lawlessness. Both my offices (Amtala and Camac Street) have been vandalised and ransacked in the last one month,” he said in a social media post.
He also alleged that repeated calls and emails to Kolkata Police after the incident went unanswered for nearly two hours. Banerjee urged Governor RN Ravi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the Prime Minister's Office to intervene and asked the Calcutta High Court to take serious note of the incident.
The TMC claimed that the attackers assaulted security personnel and took away an air purifier, printer, television and other electronic equipment.
BJP MLA Sajal Ghosh claimed the incident was “staged” to keep the TMC in the political spotlight and questioned why TMC workers were present at the office at such an early hour.
Urban Development Minister Agnimitra Pal said the identities of those responsible should be established and added that vandalism by BJP workers would also be wrong.
The incident comes days after a confrontation at the same premises, where Kolkata Municipal Corporation officials, accompanied by police, sought to remove a TMC billboard, alleging that it had been installed illegally and posed a safety risk.
TMC workers allegedly resisted the civic team's action, triggering a political controversy. Police and fire officials later inspected the building for possible deviations from the sanctioned plan and examined its fire-safety arrangements.
