Kolkata, March 14 Senior Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee alleged that West Bengal minister Shashi Panja was injured in the attack by BJP workers at her residence in the city on Saturday, ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally, and called the incident an assault on every woman in the state.
The TMC national general secretary claimed that Panja's house was vandalized and party workers and supporters were beaten up during the alleged attack.
Clashes broke out between TMC and BJP supporters in central Kolkata on Saturday, barely half an hour before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally at the Brigade Parade Ground, leaving a police officer and a leader of the saffron party injured, officials said.
Allegations also surfaced that stones were thrown at the residence of Shashi Panja in Girish Park area, about 5 km from the Brigade Parade Ground, the rally venue of the PM.
The violence took place when BJP supporters were marching to attend the Prime Minister's meeting, which marked the culmination of the BJP's statewide 'Poriborton Yatra' ahead of the Assembly elections likely to be held next month.
"I strongly condemn the heinous, cowardly, and utterly reprehensible attack on our minister Shashi Panja. Her home was vandalized, our party workers were mercilessly beaten, and she herself was injured with stones and bricks hurled at her," Banerjee said in a statement on X handle.
Describing it as unprecedented, Banerjee, who is considered number two in the TMC hierarchy, alleged that a serving cabinet minister was attacked in broad daylight by "BJP goons emboldened by the presence of their prime minister in the city".
"This is not merely an attack on one woman; it is an attack on every woman of Bengal," he said.
The TMC leader also referred to the vandalism of the bust of polymath and social reformer Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar during a roadshow of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in 2019, claiming that such incidents reflected the party's political culture.
Accusing the BJP of attempting to instigate unrest in the state, Banerjee alleged that "outsider BJP leaders" were trying to import a politics of provocation in West Bengal.
"They want to destroy peace and spread fear. This will neither be forgiven nor forgotten. Bengal will not tolerate BJP's saffron gundagardi," he added.