Eggs thrown at TMC MLA Kunal Ghosh's car in Hooghly

NEW DELHI: TMC MLA Kunal Ghosh's car was pelted with eggs on Saturday while he was travelling to Serampore in Hooghly to attend a political rally addressed by former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

The incident took place in the Uttarpara area, where a group of people carrying black flags surrounded Ghosh’s vehicle and shouted the slogan “go black”, a party leader said.

The group pelted the TMC legislator’s car with eggs and stones, breaking its rear windshield.

Reacting to the incident, Ghosh said, "This is jungle raj. They attacked my car with stones and eggs and blocked the road. No police personnel were present there. I am now returning to Kolkata and will go straight to Lal Bazaar or Bhawani Bhawan to lodge a complaint."

TMC leaders alleged that the incident was the “handiwork of the BJP”.

Mamata Banerjee is scheduled to address the public meeting later on Saturday. The rally at Serampore Court grounds had earlier faced legal hurdles before the Calcutta high court allowed the meeting, subject to conditions including a cap on attendance and police security arrangements.

The incident comes amid a political standoff between the Trinamool Congress and police in Serampore ahead of the meeting. Police arrested two Trinamool volunteers, Sudip Acharya and Nur Islam, on Thursday in connection with extortion cases.

A day before the rally, the TMC claimed that police had rounded up more than 150 party workers, including women, across the district. Serampore MP Kalyan Banerjee condemned the action. “Police have started a massive action against our workers and have rounded up more than 150 of them, including women.

Despite this, a large number of people remain interested in attending Didi’s meeting,” he said.

Following a meeting with local police officials on Friday, Asit Mazumdar, convener of Serampore district TMC, accused the police of disrupting party operations. “We submitted all required documents to comply with the HC order, but police started massive arrests, forcing most of our workers to flee,” Mazumdar said, questioning the justification behind targeting the event’s volunteers.