Kolkata: Tension broke out at Camac Street in central Kolkata on Thursday afternoon after officials of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), accompanied by Kolkata Police, reached the spot to remove the billboard of the party office of Trinamool Congress general secretary and Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha member Abhishek Banerjee.
On getting the news, Abhishek, also the nephew of former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, reached the spot accompanied by Trinamool Rajya Sabha member Derek O’Brien and other associates.
A heated exchange followed between the Diamond Harbour MP and KMC officials. While the officials claimed the billboard was installed illegally, Abhishek argued that the order copy brought by KMC was invalid.
He said that if the order had been valid, the billboard’s picture would have been included in the document. A section of KMC officials later returned to the corporation to get a revised copy of the order.
Speaking to the media, Abhishek launched a scathing attack against the state government, KMC and Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.
“There is an attempt to end the Trinamool Congress forcibly. Why is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) so scared? First, the administration did not allow the Trinamool Congress to hold meetings and processions in a democratic way. The ruling party and the administration are attacking leaders, destroying party offices and breaking billboards. What are they afraid of? I want to tell Suvendu Adhikari that the Trinamool Congress symbol is a grass flower. The more the grass is cut, the more it will grow,” he said.
Abhishek alleged that the administration was specifically targeting the billboard at his party office on Camac Street, while many other billboards for offices and shops in the area remained untouched.
“We will move the Calcutta High Court against this move. Nobody is above the Indian Constitution,” he said.
KMC officials and police accused the Diamond Harbour MP and his associates of preventing government officials from performing their duties.
(IANS)
