Union minister's car chased, attacked with stones during Bengal visit, BJP leader points at TMC

BJP MP and Union minister V Muraleedharan's convoy in Bengal came under attack by alleged TMC goons on Thursday. The BJP leader's car was left shattered with broken windows.

A video of the attack shared by the BJP leader shows a group of men with their faces covered hitting his car with sticks and throwing stones even as Muraleedharan and others in the car try to duck.

The occupants of the car can be heard asking the driver to take a U-turn and escape when others start throwing stones and sticks towards the car from another side.

In a tweet, MoS Ministry of External Affairs, V Muraleedharan, said, "TMC goons attacked my convoy in West Midnapore, broken windows, attacked personal staff. Cutting short my trip."

TMC goons attacked my convoy in West Midnapore, broken windows, attacked personal staff. Cutting short my trip. #BengalBurning @BJP4Bengal @BJP4India @narendramodi @JPNadda @AmitShah @DilipGhoshBJP @RahulSinhaBJP pic.twitter.com/b0HKhhx0L1 — V Muraleedharan (@VMBJP) May 6, 2021

Union minister V Muraleedharan's car was attacked by locals in Panchkhudi of West Midnapore during his visit on Thursday.

"I am safe, but my driver was injured, few car windows were also smashed," the minister told PTI.

BJP's national president JP Nadda said the attack on Union minister V Muraleedharan by "TMC workers" is "highly condemnable". "I had said yesterday itself that law and order in West Bengal has collapsed completely. Imagine the condition of the common person in a state where a Union minister can be attacked in this manner."

Hitting out at the ruling TMC, JP Nadda alleged that ever since the state assembly election results were declared in Bengal, "TMC-sponsored violence is on the rise".

"BJP workers are being routinely attacked. Thousands of people are migrating to save their lives and there are incidents of rapes too. But organisations and people who advocate freedom of speech and human rights are silent," he alleged.

According to PTI, BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha who was accompanying the minister claimed that the attack took place despite the presence of the police personnel. An officer of Kotwali police station in West Midnapore said that they are probing into the incident of the attack on the minister's convoy.

The attack took place on a day when the Union Home Ministry formed a four-member fact-finding team to look into reasons of the post-poll violence in West Bengal and also assess the ground situation in the state.

The team, led by an additional secretary of the ministry, has left for Bengal.

On Wednesday, the Centre had sent a terse reminder to the West Bengal government to submit a detailed report on the post-poll violence and to take necessary measures to stop such incidents "without any loss of time".

BJP has claimed at least 14 of its party workers have been killed in the state since the May 2 election results declared TMC to have swept the polls.

Meanwhile, senior Trinamool Congress leader Sougata Roy said the party condemns the attack on V Murleedharan.

The TMC also added that its candidate Udayan Guha was attacked and his hand has been injured. The TMC has alleged that the attack was carried out by the BJP.