Kolkata, Sept. 26 -- Mamata All India Trinamool Congress (MAITC) MLA Kunal Ghosh's car was attacked in Uttarpara on Saturday while he was travelling to attend party chief Mamata Banerjee's meeting at Serampore in Hooghly.

The incident took place near Shokher Bazar on GT Road, where a group allegedly stopped his vehicle and hurled stones, bricks and eggs. A video of the incident showed stones and eggs being hurled at the car. The attackers also allegedly used iron rods, damaging the car's rear windshield. Ghosh claimed shards of glass hit his body.

Before leaving for the meeting, Mamata also addressed the media from her Kalighat residence and condemned the incident, saying: "Kunal has been attacked, the roads have been blocked by BJP hooligans, still there's no sign of police anywhere. This is happening with the support of the police administration."

Ghosh alleged that the attackers were shouting "go back" and wanted to prevent him from attending Mamata's meeting. He accused the police of failing to intervene and subsequently emailed his complaint to Uttarpara police station.

After the attack, Ghosh turned his car around and went to Bhawani Bhawan, the state police headquarters, instead of attending the meeting. However, he was initially stopped from entering the premises. Ghosh said he wanted to meet an officer, show the condition of his vehicle and submit evidence of the attack. Police personnel advised him to approach Uttarpara police station.

Emerging from Bhawani Bhawan, Ghosh said senior officers were not present as it was Saturday afternoon. He later said police had contacted him and that video footage and other evidence would be provided. He said he would again approach the police on Monday.

MAITC leaders accused BJP workers of carrying out the attack. Asit Majumdar called it a "pre-planned attack by the BJP, not a protest by common people". BJP MLA Dipanjan Chakraborty, however, described it as a "spontaneous response from the public".

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.