Kolkata, Sept. 3 -- In an unprecedented incident in Bengal's political history, the Trinamool Congress's Camac Street office was vandalised in the early hours of Thursday.
CCTV footage showed masked, helmeted men entering the premises, threatening security guards and ransacking the office.
TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee blamed the ruling party and police inaction for the incident. The party's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee also blamed the BJP for the attack, stating: "BJP hooligans, armed with weapons, stormed our party office."
The party alleged that Kolkata Police remained inactive for nearly two hours despite repeated calls and e-mails seeking intervention. Six people have been arrested from the spot in connection with the incident.
Banerjee described the incident as a "disgraceful assault on the rule of law" and said the attackers assaulted people inside the office, snatched their phones, smashed furniture, ransacked the premises and destroyed electronic equipment.
The CCTV footage posted by him shows the men moving through the office and carrying out the vandalism. Television screens, printers, an air purifier and other electronic equipment were damaged or taken away.
In a post showing the damage, Banerjee wrote, "This is what the BJP has done to my party office in the early hours of this morning." He questioned: "Will the Governor of WB act? Will the Union Home minister act? Will the PMO act?" He also called on the judiciary to take "serious note" of the situation and uphold the rule of law.
Targeting Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, Banerjee accused him of resorting to intimidation against the Opposition and said the Chief Minister should resign if the Opposition was to be treated through "violence, vandalism and intimidation".
He later said both his Amtala and Camac Street offices had been vandalised and ransacked within a month.
Police, however, said they reached the spot immediately after being informed and arrested six people from the spot.
Kunal Aggarwal, Additional Commissioner of Police (Addl. CP), Crime, stated: "We have secured the CCTV footage. A case is being initiated, and our investigation is on.
He added that statements were being recorded from people present inside the office. Police have also recovered some of the items allegedly stolen from the office.
TMC MP Mahua Moitra, meanwhile, called for a neutral investigation to establish whether those arrested were actually involved or were being made scapegoats to protect anyone.
The party also raised doubts over the arrests, questioning whether those involved in the vandalism would have remained at the spot when police arrived after nearly two hours.
Moitra, who addressed a press conference in Delhi along with leader Saugata Roy, described the visuals as resembling "a coup in a banana republic".
She said around 25 masked men entered the premises at around 4.30 am, overpowered security guards and vandalised the sixth and seventh floors.
Moitra said the incident could not be viewed in isolation, pointing to the recent controversy over the TMC office in Amtala and alleging that party offices, leaders and workers had faced attacks, intimidation and politically motivated cases since the change of regime in Bengal.
She said the objective was to "silence, intimidate and politically erase" the party's cadres, leaders and workers.
Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien termed the incident part of a "disturbing and systematic misuse of the police" by the BJP government in Bengal.
The TMC has written to President Droupadi Murmu and Governor R N Ravi seeking appointments with a delegation to raise what it termed "utter lawlessness".
The BJP denied involvement. BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya described it as "TMC's internal fight". He added: " If BJP engaged in vendetta politics, defeated TMC leaders wouldn't remain unscathed."
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.