On Saturday, BJP MP Locket Chatterjee was attacked allegedly by Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers in Chunchura in Hooghly district of West Bengal. The incident took place during the first phase of elections in the poll-bound State.
As per reports, Chatterjee has been fielded as the party candidate from the Chunchura Assembly constituency. She had gone to participate in Basant Utsav celebrations at Kalitala ground in Rabindra Nagar in Chunchura. At that time, a group of miscreants threw hazardous chemical-laced colours into her eyes. The BJP has accused Gram Pradhan of Kodalia-2 of orchestrating the attack.
Meanwhile, the BJP has lodged a complaint with the police. Chatterjee’s election agent has also notified the Election Commission about the attack. In a tweet, the State unit of the party said, “The ‘khela’ (game) of hatred, violence & harassment will be put to an end soon. This cowardly ‘khela’ of harassing women is triggered by the fear of defeat!”
https://twitter.com/BJP4Bengal/status/1375840144612200451?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwWhile speaking about the incident, Locket Chatterjee said, “I went to them after they called me. They said they wanted to play Holi with me but because of corona, I advised them to only put a bindi with the colour. In the meantime, two men, who were standing in front of the women, said we will definitely put colour on you. I thought they were part of the group.”
Locket Chatterjee narrates her ordeal
She recounted that the men went behind and threw colours, containing coarse substance, into her eyes. However, since she had her spectacles on, only a small trace of the colours entered her eyes. All of a sudden, she felt a burning sensation in her eyes. When she looked up to find the miscreants, the BJP MP saw 3-4 men wearing Trinamool Congress badge in her vicinity. They also hurled choicest of expletives at her.
With one hand over her eye, she somehow managed to make her way out of the large gathering in Kalitala ground. “I cannot imagine that someone can attack a woman like this…The men had warned me that they would put colours on me… The women, who were standing there, could not understand that that the miscreants would throw colours into my eyes from behind…Does anyone attack a woman like this?” Locket Chatterjee narrated as she broke down into tears.
The incident has caused a stir in the Chunchura constituency, which is set to vote during the 4th Phase of the State Legislative elections on April 10. The polls will be conducted in 8 phases. The first phase was conducted on Saturday (March 27) and the votes will be counted on May 2.