Mamata, Bengal FM heckled by SFI youth outside PlanCom

The youths from SFI were protesting at the death of fellow activist Sudipto Gupta in Kolkata

West Bengal’s chief minister and finance minister were heckled, and allegedly attempted to be assaulted, by members of the Students Federation of India (SFI), the student wing of Communist Party of India (Marxist), here on Tuesday at the entrance of the Planning Commission’s headquarters.

After this, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee cancelled a scheduled appointment with the Prime Minister, saying she felt ill. Finance Minister Amit Mitra, whose clothes got torn in the incident was reportedly taken later to hospital.

"They had an iron rod; they tried to hit me,” charged Banerjee, adding, “They can kill me but they can't stop me. I am a product of the students' movement." “Delhi is not safe and a new precedent has been created.”

Sources told Business Standard she asked for cancellation of the meeting with the PM as she was “unwell and her blood pressure had dipped”.

The protesting youths from SFI were protesting at the death of fellow activist Sudipto Gupta in Kolkata. It is alleged he died while in state police custody; Banerjee was later quoted as terming this “a petty matter”.

Within hours of the incident in Delhi, the CPI(M) said they were condemning it. Their Politburo member, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who was Banerjee’s predecessor as CM, stated: "I strongly condemn the incident, this is wrong politics.”

Sushma Swaraj of the Bharatiya Janata Party, who is leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, tweeted: “I am shocked to see the visuals of the manner in which Amit Mitra...is manhandled by the CPM activists. I strongly condemn this behaviour. CPM leaders should apologise for this gross misconduct by their cadres.”

After reports of what had happened reached Bengal, there were reports of activists from Mamata’s Trinamool Congress vandalising CPI(M) party offices in the state. The TMC’s youth wing has announced a protest rally tomorrow in south Kolkata.

After the TMC pulled out of the UPA coalition at the Centre last September, this was to be her first meeting with the Prime Minister.

She had, last night, said she would be demanding “justice” from the PM and “protesting against the economic blockade by the Centre”. Banerjee was in the capital for the annual meeting with the Plan panel.

Earlier, asked to respond to Gujarat CM and BJP leader Narendra Modi’s reported praise of her government, Banerjee said, “Political differences could be there but a government's work can be appreciated by anyone.” She deflected questions of a possible tie-up in the future with the BJP.