Bengal: Mahua Moitra takes attack on her to global media, IPU

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra on Thursday escalated allegations of political violence in West Bengal by appealing to leading international media organisations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), accusing BJP workers of attacking the premises where she was attending a party meeting and alleging that police failed to protect her despite remaining at the scene.

In separate social media posts, Moitra tagged The New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde, BBC World, Al Jazeera English and the Financial Times, urging them to "watch how police in Indian state of Bengal watch complicit as PM Modi's ruling BJP goons in a lynch mob attack an Opposition MP's premises & keep her confined for 4 hours."

In another post addressed to the IPU, she alleged she had received "no protection for Opposition MP" from Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla, while repeating her claim that BJP workers attacked the premises and police stood by.

The posts followed a tense confrontation at the residence of TMC MLA Alifa Ahmed in Palashi, in Nadia district's Kaliganj, where Moitra had gone to attend a party meeting. A crowd gathered outside, shouting "go back" and "chor" (thief) slogans and hurling eggs and other objects at the premises.

Moitra livestreamed the confrontation on Facebook for several hours. Videos from those broadcasts show protesters throwing objects through an upper-floor window where she and other TMC workers were standing, gesturing for her to come downstairs and, at one point, objects appearing to strike her. The footage also shows police personnel present outside the premises for much of the standoff as the confrontation continued.

Moitra alleged she was effectively confined inside the building for nearly four hours before the crowd was dispersed.

Police later said district personnel and Central security forces eventually dispersed the protesters after speaking to them.

The BJP, however, denied orchestrating the protest. State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya claimed those involved were not BJP workers but former TMC members, continuing a line the party has repeatedly advanced in response to recent allegations of political violence in the state. Senior BJP leader Arjun Singh appeared to play down the episode, remarking that "small groups of people hurling eggs is infinitely better than hurling bombs" and questioning the significance of the incident.

The competing political claims leave unresolved a larger question over law and order. Whether those involved were BJP workers, former TMC members or unaffiliated supporters, the videos document a hostile crowd effectively surrounding a sitting Member of Parliament for several hours while police remained on the scene.

Among mainstream politicians to condemn the incident, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav accused the BJP of "misusing its power to create a toxic environment of political violence in BJP-ruled states, especially in West Bengal", and politicising the police.

In a post in Hindi on X, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister also said "the entire nation's public is extremely angry and outraged by this negative and aggressive behaviour. Even the BJP's own leaders and workers are against such violent attacks because they feel that today, in places where they do not have governments, if such deadly attacks start happening on BJP members and their associates, what will happen, or what will happen tomorrow if their government falls".

The incident comes less than a month after BJP Mahila Morcha workers allegedly attempted to hurl eggs at Moitra outside the Krishnanagar district court on 13 June, where she had appeared in connection with a case. Following that episode, Moitra had vowed legal action against those involved, saying she would approach the high court or, if necessary, the Supreme Court if police failed to act.

The episode also comes barely a day after the Calcutta High Court, while directing the state to frame guidelines to prevent accused persons from being pelted with eggs during transit, observed that "when the state takes custody of a person, it is its duty to protect his life and honour". Although the order concerned prisoners in judicial custody, the court's emphasis on the state's obligation to protect individuals from public assault is likely to add to scrutiny of the police response in Moitra's case.