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Informist, Tuesday, May 5, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – Outgoing West Bengal Chief Minister and All India Trinamool Congress President Mamata Banerjee Tuesday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party for violence against her party workers and leaders and asked the winner of the assembly election in the state to stop "torturing" them.

 

"If you continue torturing, please understand that when you are not in power at the Centre, within a day, you will have to face the same battle," Banerjee said at a press conference in Kolkata. She said that even women were not being spared. "History will repeat itself," she warned.

 

Incidents of post-poll violence against Trinamool supporters are being reported from several parts of West Bengal since Monday. Party members were attacked and offices were set ablaze in Cooch Behar, Asansol, and Howrah, according to media reports. Party offices in Kolkata, Baruipur, Kamarhati, Baranagar, Howrah, and Baharampur were also vandalised by mobs, according to the reports.

 

Banerjee also claimed she was attacked by BJP workers in the presence of central armed police forces personnel while leaving the counting centre at Sakhawat High School in the Bhabanipur constituency in Kolkata. "They kicked me in the belly, kicked my back... the CCTV was switched off," she said. She alleged the counting was rigged in Bhabanipur, where she lost to the BJP's Suvendu Adhikari by over 15,000 votes.

 

Opposition leaders across party lines, including Indian National Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav and Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh have extended support to Banerjee and criticised the BJP's high-handedness. They have also termed the way in which the polls were conducted in West Bengal a "threat to democracy", aligning with the Trinamool Congress's allegation that the BJP has misused the entire central government machinery to win the election.

 

The Trinamool leader said her party will decide on the future course of action after deliberation. The party's handle on social media platform X posted, "Where are the thousands of central forces stationed across Bengal, deployed at enormous expense in the name of peace and security? Standing by. Watching. Arms folded while our people are being butchered on the streets." The complaint was accompanied by a man lying in a pool of blood, his throat slashed. The party also shared visuals of its workers being thrashed, allegedly by members of the BJP's "Harmad Bahini".

 

"This is the culture of death and destruction that BJP vultures wish to normalise in this land," the party said. The BJP won 207 of the 294 assembly seats in West Bengal, per the results declared Monday. The Trinamool Congress has been reduced to 80 seats.  End

 

Reported by Asim Khan

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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