Stay calm, exercise restraint, I will get back to work: Mamata tells supporters

A day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee suffered injuries on her person, following an alleged attack on her in East Medinipore’s Nandigram, she in a video message on Thursday (March 11) urged supporters and party workers to remain calm and exercise restraint.

The video was uploaded on the Twitter account of the Trinamool Congress on Thursday.

Speaking from her hospital bed, Mamata said she will not reschedule her election work, but might have to be wheelchair-bound for some time.

“It’s true that I have been injured severely yesterday. I have pain in my hand, leg. There are ligament injuries too. Yesterday, I experienced pain in my head and chest. I was offering my prayer at that time. There was such a massive push that my leg got squeezed by the car,” Mamata says in the video.

“Will request everyone to be calm and exercise restraint. Don’t do anything to inconvenience others. I hope to get back to my work within two to three days. I will have some problem working but I will manage. I won’t cancel my meetings. But probably I will remain in the wheelchair for some time. Please cooperate with me,” Banerjee said from the hospital.

On Wednesday evening, after filing her election papers at Nandigram, Mamata was at a market greeting people while standing on the footboard of her car when the crowd pressed against her door, which may have slammed into her leg and hips and injured her.

She was then rushed to Kolkata’s SSKM Hospital, through a green corridor, and has been admitted since then.

Earlier in the day, SSKM director Monimoy Banerjee said she has a severe bone injury in her left ankle. “There were marks of injury in her right shoulder, right forearm and neck. She was complaining of chest pain and had trouble breathing,” the director said. The blood report also showed a drop in sodium levels.

Mamata did not mention her allegations of being attacked in Nandigram–a claim she made last evening–in the video. However, TMC wrote to the Election Commission alleging “a deep-rooted conspiracy to take the life” of its chief and said it has got to do with the removal of the Bengal police chief a day before, for which it has blamed the BJP.

TMC called it a “gruesome attack” on the Chief Minister, adding it was an attempt on her life “within 24 hours of the removal of the Bengal police chief” by the Election Commission without the consulting the state government. The party alleged there is a “nexus” between the BJP’s complaints against the sacked police chief and the police not being present at the time of the incident.

A Trinamool delegation will meet with the Election Commission tomorrow and share photos of the incident, the party said. “We are surprised that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ignored the attack on Mamata Banerjee. There is not a single comment by the PM on the Chief Minister,” said senior Trinamool MP Sougata Roy.

The BJP, on the other hand, has accused Mamata of feigning an attack to gain public sympathy. The saffron party urged the Election Commission to order a high level investigation into her allegations and to release video footage of the incident to know what really happened.

Mamata’s video is a message to her party workers who blocked trains near Kadambagachi station on the Sealdah–Hasnabad line to protest against the alleged attack.

Also read: Mamata suffered ‘severe bone injuries’ in ankle in Nandigram ‘attack’

TMC also postponed its manifesto release following its leader’s hospitalisation, and informed that it will be released after she comes back to her Kalighat home.

Mamata will be contesting against former TMC minister Suvendu Adhikari, who joined the BJP just ahead of the elections, in Nandigram.

Nandigram will go to elections in the second phase starting April 1. West Bengal will be voting in eight phases, beginning March 27. The votes will be counted on May 2.