You could call it an intensification of the sort of questions that have been around: with another egg-throwing at Ghosh outside the former CM’s residence, the hostility in the state is hard to miss. It is one in a line of similar run-ins with TMC leaders and has the potential to ratchet up the tension where it already exists around the party’s top brass.
What happened at Kalighat
It was about 6.30 pm when things went down near the Kalighat house in south Kolkata. Ghosh, the Beliaghata MLA, had stopped to talk to some reporters when a young man made his way over and, so it is said, chucked an egg at him.
Those watching say it made a mess of Ghosh’s head. A news agency put out a video of the whole thing: you can see a local boy heave an egg as Ghosh is making his way out, while a guy in a black shirt is there with more in hand.
Security and accountability concerns
For Ghosh, this is a matter of whether the police are doing their job at the former Chief Minister’s doorstep. He was within 10 metres of the house when it happened, and for all the Z category security she is supposed to have, it didn’t seem to be enough.
He called it ‘planned hooliganism’. There were two lads right in front of him while he was without any means of defence and talking to the press. And yet, when the one who did it made off, no one was there to put a stop to it.
Ghosh has a few questions for the authorities:
– How do they get right up to the gate
– What kept the police from holding the accused
– Where did the protocols go when you have a Z category cover
Political blame and counterclaims
Don’t let anyone tell you this is public anger, says Ghosh. He has it in for the ‘miscreants’ with ties to the BJP and isn’t going to be put off by their methods. He also noted he was lucky to save his eye from being put out.
Then there is the other side of it. The young man, Chandan, put in that he is a local and has a right to do what he did because of the ‘excesses’ Ghosh has been up to. “He deserves an egg… you know what he’s done,” he was heard to say before he was gone.
A pattern and the stakes
This is not an isolated case for the Trinamool; it is part of a run of these attacks and has the party on edge about what happens in high-security areas. To have something like this happen a stone’s throw from the TMC chief’s place, in the middle of a hard-fought rivalry, means more than just one bad afternoon.
The ruling party in West Bengal has to be wary of making a habit of such standoffs. And for the administration, if you can’t hold the line at a place like this, it leaves open some serious questions about how ready they are on the ground.
What comes next
Ghosh has put in a word with the Police Commissioner and others. He was hard on the officers on the scene for not moving in to catch the ones responsible.
But come 7.30 pm, we don’t have a read on whether a formal complaint has been filed or if anything has been done to the accused. As for Ghosh, he is unbothered. Says it won’t alter his work in the least.
