The Trinamool Congress has approached President Droupadi Murmu and West Bengal Governor RN Ravi, seeking urgent meetings over what the party has described as the “disturbing and systematic misuse” of the police and a worsening law-and-order situation in the state. TMC Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien said separate letters were sent to the President in Delhi and the Governor in Kolkata on Thursday morning, requesting meetings with party delegations.
“In this situation, we've written to the President of India, and the Trinamool Congress has written to the Governor of West Bengal — President and the Governor — seeking an urgent appointment of a Trinamool Congress delegation to discuss the disturbing situation in Bengal,” O’Brien told reporters.
The move follows allegations by TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee that BJP workers armed with weapons entered the party’s Camac Street office in Kolkata in the early hours of Thursday, vandalised the premises, assaulted staff and damaged electronic equipment.
Abhishek Banerjee also alleged that Kolkata Police failed to respond for nearly two hours despite repeated calls and emails from party workers and lawyers, calling the incident an “open defiance of the rule of law”.
Derek O’Brien alleged that the situation had been deteriorating for months, with TMC workers being targeted and party offices allegedly attacked across the state. “What happened this morning was open lawlessness. Look at the video footage from 4:30 in the morning. For four months, this has gone from bad to worse. TMC workers are being targeted by the police across the state. Party offices are being vandalised,” he said.
He further accused the police of disregarding established procedures and acting with political bias. “Police are following no rules. Police are acting as open... as BJP cadres. There is utter lawlessness here,” O’Brien alleged.
TMC IT Cell in-charge Upasana Chaudhary separately alleged that BJP workers attacked security guards and vandalised the Camac Street office at around 3.30am. She said the party had CCTV footage of the incident and would file an FIR.
