BJP seeks Mamata nephew's arrest for 'gouging eyes' remark

Demanding West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee's immediate arrest, the BJP on Tuesday said it has filed a police complaint against him for threatening to "gouge out eyes and chop off hands" of Trinamool's opponents.

State Bharatiya Janata Party president Rahul Sinha also said the party on Wednesday will move the Calcutta High Court seeking immediate legal action against Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee who made the aggressive remarks addressing a party rally in Basirhat in North 24-Parganas on Monday.

"We feel Abhishek should be immediately arrested for the remarks. We have filed a first information report (FIR) before both the Kolkata and Basirhat police, seeking immediate legal action against him," Sinha told media persons here.

"His words 'gouging eyes and chopping off hands' are spurring violence and we feel they are directed at the BJP because the Trinamool is steadily getting wary of our rise in Bengal," Sinha said.

"Tomorrow (Wednesday) we will file a petition before the Calcutta High Court, urging immediate legal action against Abhishek," he added.

"So long as Mamata Banerjee is there, whoever dares to glower at the people of Bengal, we can gouge their eyes out and throw them on the road. If hands are raised, we can chop off the hands," Abhishek said, addressing party workers in the run-up to the July 21 Martyr's Day Rally.

The Trinamool observes July 21 as the Martyrs' Day in the memory of 13 people who were shot dead in 1993 in police firing on a Youth Congress rally led by Mamata Banerjee, then a Youth Congress leader.

Political parties, including the Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), have condemned the remarks.