On January 14, local Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Shivam Roy was caught on camera slapping a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Mandal President. West Bengal Food Minister Rathin Ghosh was present at the scene when the incident happened. As per reports, Ghosh was speaking to the villagers to take stock of the grievances when BJP’s Sagar Biswas came as a common villager and expressed his grievances to the minister. For unreported reasons, Roy slapped Biswas.
ANI reported that Ghosh visited the Nandadulal Temple area in Barasat City of district North 24 Parganas for ‘Didir Doot’, a newly launched scheme of the state government. During his visit, he went to Nilgunj Panchayat Area’s Sari Pona village of Ichapur. After offering prayers at a local temple, he sat on the temple floor and started talking to the villagers who came with their grievances.
In a statement, Ghosh claimed the incident did not take place in front of him, and he learnt about it later. He expressed his regret over the slapgate. On the other hand, Biswas and other villagers said they had already complained to the panchayat and Block Development Officer (BDO) about the grievances related to drainage etc., but no action was taken. This is why they had approached the minister.
BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari slammed TMC for the incident. In a statement, he said, “TMC is a party of goons, and its leaders engage in gundagardi. I will make him (TMC leader) wash the feet of the BJP leader with his hands”.