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Youth slaps Mamata’s nephew, nearly lynched

• The Statesman
• 05 Jan 2015

TMC workers go on rampage after incident at party rally

Biswabrata Goswami
Chandipur, 4 January
A Trinamul Youth Congress rally turned into a battlefield after an unidentified youth slapped Abhishek Banerjee, a party MP and the nephew of chief minister Mamata Banerjee on the stage in front of a bunch of leaders, including a minister and two MLAs, at Chandipur in East Midnapore this afternoon.
The youth was caught by party workers and leaders who started beating him up on the stage;  he was then pulled down on the ground where the crowd joined in. The youth was later rescued by police and admitted to the Chandipur block hospital in critical condition.
Hundreds of workers and supporters pelted stones at police and security officials who rushed to the stage to rescue Mr Banerjee. The irate workers also jumped on the stage and vandalised it. They then went to the Chandipur police station, which they ransacked.
At least 15 police persons including senior police officials were injured in the incident.
The Trinamul workers also targeted mediapersons too. Four mediapersons of two vernacular news channels were beaten up and their cameras were broken.
The youth’s motive in attacking Mamata Banerjee’s nephew is yet to be ascertained. The party claimed that the youth was not a Trinamul member but an outsider.
According to party leaders, the youth was apparently allowed to go on stage after he told party workers that he wanted to take a photo of Mr Banerjee on his cellphone.
Mr Sisir Adhikari, a veteran Trinamul Congress leader said, “I am astounded at this incident. I don’t know the youth, but I believe that it was not a factional feud that led to the incident. There is obviously a conspiracy and it should be properly probed”.
Mr Akhil Giri, who belongs to Mr Adhikari’s rival lobby, said, “The party will conduct a probe into this matter. It is impossible to say anything before the investigation is completed.”
A CPI-M leader said, “Following the Saradha scam Miss Banerjee decided to put aside many senior leaders, perhaps to distance herself from such scam-tainted leaders, and started promoting her nephew. This has aggravated the internal feuds in the party’s district leaderships and this incident may be the resultant of the factional feuds. Though I personally condemn the attack on Mr Banerjee”.
Congress leader Mr Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, said, “It is nothing
but a crude manifestation of an internal conflict within the TMC. The Frankenstein syndrome has become very visible in the Trinamul.”