As protests over corruption grow in Bengal, more Trinamool leaders use threatening language

Kolkata (IANS) As protests on the issue of corruption are on the rise in West Bengal and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee being targeted in many cases, top leaders of Trinamool Congress have started losing control over the use of words against the protesters in public forums.

The use of abuses is no more restricted to those elements habitual of such verbal invectives, the highly- educated and genteel leaders have also started using threatening language.

Take for example Trinamool Congress's articulate and knowledgeable Lok Sabha member from Dum Dum constituency, Saugata Roy, who was a retired professor of physics from a reputed college in Kolkata before his retirement a few years back.

Till the other day, Roy, who had been extremely critical of the use of unparliamentary words or abuses by some of his own party colleagues, on Sunday, threatened the opposition and the protesters. "Trinamool Congress has a clear mandate till 2026 and we will be in power till that time. If the opposition feels that they can say or do anything in the name of protest, we will spill their skins and make shoes out of it. Be ready for that day," said Roy from a public rally in the Kamarhati area under his constituency on Sunday morning.

Similarly, Trinamool Congress's Lok Sabha member, Kalyan Banerjee, also a senior counsel of the Calcutta High Court, resorted to hurling of similar intimidating abuses from a public rally at Chinsurah in Hooghly district late Saturday evening. "If Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee are maligned, the opposition parties will be beaten up. When she came to power in West Bengal in 2011, Mamata Banerjee said that she wanted a change and not revenge. But now I think that observation was wrong. But the manner in which CPI-M, Congress and BJP are resorting to maligning politics, revenge is the only remedy now," Banerjee said.

On Sunday morning, Trinamool Congress maverick and non-conformist legislator from Kamarhati constituency, Madan Mitra advised his followers to practice stick combats and set up special centers for training on this count. "I, as the MLA of Kamarhati, promise to supply those sticks," Mitra said.

CPI-M central committee member and the former leader of Left Parties in West Bengal Assembly, Sujan Chakraborty said that such words were unfortunate from an educated leader from Saugata Roy. "Actually, Trinamool Congress leadership are truly scared now since the protests are being organised by not just the opposition parties but also by the self- motivated public in general," he said.

BJP's national vice-president and the party MP, Dilip Ghosh said that such intimidating comments from the ruling party leaders are irritating the common people more and they are getting organised against such corruption and hooliganism. "The people will give them a fitting reply at the right time," he said/