Kolkata: Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Thursday alleged that armed Bharatiya Janata Party workers barged into the party’s Camac Street office in Kolkata during the early morning hours and ransacked the property. According to the Diamond Harbour MP, the intruders damaged furniture, destroyed electronic equipment, and confiscated the mobile phones of staff present inside the building.
Sharing purported CCTV footage of the early morning intrusion on X, Banerjee questioned whether the West Bengal governor, the Union home minister, and the Prime Minister’s Office would intervene or look the other way. He urged the judiciary, specifically the Calcutta High Court, to take immediate note of the episode to preserve the rule of law, while directly targeting West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and demanding his resignation over what he termed as blatant political thuggery.
The Trinamool Congress stated that the incident took place at around 4:30 a.m. when several weapon-yielding men assaulted staff members before looting devices, including an air purifier, a television set, and a printer. Banerjee also criticised local law enforcement, claiming that Kolkata Police failed to respond for nearly two hours despite distress calls and urgent emails from party representatives demanding an immediate probe into who orchestrated the raid.
The BJP swiftly denied any involvement in the incident, with Baranagar MLA Sajal Ghosh stating with responsibility that no party worker took part. Ghosh questioned the presence of TMC workers at the office before dawn and alleged that the episode was fabricated to generate media attention and secure political sympathy. The authenticity of the video footage released by the TMC has not been independently verified.
The Camac Street office has become a tense political battleground between both parties in recent weeks. Civic authorities from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, alongside police, recently tried to take down a TMC billboard on the site over alleged safety hazards and permit violations, an action resisted by party workers. Subsequent inspections by municipal and fire officials uncovered structural deviations and fire-safety deficiencies, prompting notices against the premises.
