A delegation of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Thursday filed a complaint at the Election Commission office in Kolkata over the alleged attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram and called the incident a “deep-rooted conspiracy to take her life”.
In the complaint, TMC MP Derek O’Brien and TMC Secretary General Partha Chatterjee alleged that the Chief Minister was threatened due to the Election Commission of India’s takeover of the state’s law and order machinery.
“When the Election Commission of India (ECI) has taken over the law and order machinery in the state in the name of conducting elections, appropriated the whole governance structure, summarily removed and replaced the Director General of Police without any consultation with the state government, at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the person of the CM and a candidate from Nandigram, West Bengal who is Z plus protectee is threatened,” the complaint letter read.
It further claimed that an “attempt was made on Banerjee’s life” and at the time of the assault, neither the Superintendent nor the local police was present to give her security cover. Only her personal security officers were with her.
O’Brien and Chatterjee further alleged a “nexus between the complaints by BJP against the former DGP”.
“The ECI unilaterally removing the DGP, the SP, and the District Police (who report to the new DGP) being absent at the time of the brazen attack on Mamata Banerjee. The attack is a deep rooted conspiracy to take the life of our Chairperson. We call for an immediate investigation into the same,” it said.
While speaking to the media later, O’Brien condemned certain statements made by leaders of other parties.
“Those responsible for this heinous incident need to be brought to book. It was in such poor taste that within 30 minutes, there were other kinds of statements. We condemn those statements. Talk to doctors and see what happened,” he said.
“On March 9, the Election Commission changed the DGP. On March 10, a BJP MP posted on social media – ‘aap samajh jayenge, 5 pm ke baad kya hone wala hai’ (you will understand, what will happen after 5 pm) and it happened to Mamata Didi at 6 pm. We condemn these incidents and behaviour, and want the truth to prevail,” O’Brien added.