Clashes near Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee’s residence in Kolkata’s Kalighat area have triggered a public-order dispute, with Mamata Banerjee confronting the local police station officer and accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of orchestrating an attack. The former West Bengal chief minister also alleged that police had failed to maintain neutrality and warned of public anger if the situation escalated.
The clashes reportedly began on Friday night near Abhishek Banerjee’s house and involved arguments, physical confrontations and stone-throwing between supporters of the Diamond Harbour MP and local BJP workers and supporters. The report said that Abhishek Banerjee’s office was also allegedly vandalised. Police sources quoted in the report said several people from both sides were injured and that officers used batons to disperse the groups.
Abhishek Banerjee began a sit-in protest outside his residence on Friday night following the incident and argued with police personnel at the scene. He alleged that members of a BJP group had attacked his supporters with sticks fitted with nails. He later claimed that four or five of his supporters had suffered serious injuries. The report did not provide an independent confirmation of the nature or extent of those injuries.
Police intervention allowed Abhishek Banerjee to enter his residence at about 6.30 am on Saturday, according to the report. He said he had posted on social media two days earlier warning of a possible attack and had tagged the Lok Sabha Speaker in that post.
Mamata Banerjee reached the residence on Saturday afternoon and publicly criticised both the BJP and the Kalighat police. She questioned why people had allegedly been brought to the area at about 3 am, when residents were asleep, and accused the police of failing to act impartially. She specifically named Kalighat police station officer-in-charge Balai Bag and questioned the conduct of some police stations.
“Maintain neutrality,” Mamata Banerjee said, according to the report. She also said she would approach the Supreme Court if the situation crossed a limit. Addressing the officer-in-charge, she referred to the possibility of public anger if the incident intensified. These remarks were made in the context of her allegations about the police response; the report did not include a response from the officer or the BJP to the accusations.
Mamata Banerjee further alleged that a new puja had been organised at a road junction in front of her residence to prevent people from attending the puja at her house. She claimed the event had been permitted unlawfully and said the police should examine the matter. The report did not include details of any official permission document or a separate administrative finding on the allegation.
The incident has placed a politically sensitive residential neighbourhood under police scrutiny while raising questions about crowd control, local permissions for public events and the handling of disputes involving rival political groups. The immediate next steps reported are the police response to the clashes and the authorities’ examination of the allegations concerning the roadside puja and the conduct of the Kalighat police.
