It started with the number plate of a motorcycle and ended with claims that there may be a murder case. On Saturday morning, November 7, the two dominant political parties of West Bengal had hurled accusations regarding an incident at the residence of Abhishek Banerjee.
Abhishek Banerjee, National General Secretary of Trinamool Congress, said that his residence was attacked by BJP workers last night. These are the accusations made by him, and there is nothing to support them.
"The BJP goons have vandalized my residence at 2 AM after I released a video of a recce which I undertook right under the watch of Kolkata police," Banerjee said.
This followed a threat he made on the previous day. On Friday, Banerjee accused unidentified people of surveilling his residence for two consecutive days, and upon being questioned about it, claiming to be police officers.
He wondered about the involvement of the police. Why were the state police, he wondered, spying on the residence and office of an elected Member of Parliament, and who sanctioned it and for what?
Accusations became stronger throughout the day. Oneindia stated that Banerjee accused people of pelting stones and shooting fire outside his residence in Kolkata early Saturday morning around 2 am.
He got involved in a quarrel with the police and TMC MP sat outside his house protesting the act. None of the reports mentioned injuries or damages, and firing had not been confirmed by the police.
He termed it as his seventh attempt on his life and said the reason for it was his birthday celebration. This figure comes from his own account and is not verified independently.
Banerjee sought help from constitutional authorities. In his post, he quoted Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, the Union Home Ministry, Kolkata Police and West Bengal Police and sought an investigation into those who were behind the scenes. He also attacked the judiciary.
Banerjee expressed gratitude to Calcutta High Court and Supreme Court for being "mute spectators" as events unfolded. Neither court was known to respond in the reports studied.
However, the response of the ruling side was not very soft either. The West Bengal minister Dilip Ghosh rejected the accusation in New Town on Saturday.
"Who will not have a reaction to a disturbance? Anyway, who has the time to kill Abhishek Banerjee?" Dilip Ghosh said. Further, he said, "TMC is misleading people."
Further, he ridiculed the place as well. He mentioned that it was for the first time that he saw the birthday of a politician being celebrated on footpath.
The response of Ghosh indicates that while there might have been a disturbance, an attack is rejected. No statement from the BJP side regarding the incident taking place outside the house has been found in the articles read.
The exchange also reflects changes in the political landscape of Bengal. Ghosh is a minister in the state government; this means that Banerjee's allegations against Kolkata Police fall on his opponents' lap.
The TMC was in power just a little while ago and allegations regarding the inaction of police were being raised by the BJP. The articles under review did not provide any information regarding the stand taken by police on Saturday.
These groups had fought each other previously. In Tripura in 2021, workers from BJP are said to have attempted to block Banerjee’s convoy at least once and chanted the slogan, “Go Back Abhishek.”
This makes it difficult to understand what took place in one night. Each party highlights the history of the other, and none has provided evidence so far publicly.
Some fundamental things remain unclear at this stage. The police have not disclosed whether an FIR has been filed, who else was present at the place, and whether anyone has been arrested. The video that Banerjee referred to has not been independently verified, nor do we know who were those people who were watching the house.
He promised that he will upload more videos which may either resolve the whole matter or further complicate the situation.
