Kolkata: CM Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday hit out at ex-CM Mamata Banerjee over her comments in the aftermath of the Baruipur unrest. “Are rioters supposedly ‘protesters’?” the CM asked Banerjee in an X post.“Your own party is shattered and exhausted from real-fake battles! Yet there’s no change in you. Endless flattery, deceit and provocation — these three bad habits haven’t left you! Has no change come over you even now?” the CM wrote in his post referring to Banerjee.“In your statements, the ones you’re calling ‘protesters’ dragged an innocent, blameless boy out of his home, identified him solely by his name and identity, and brutally beat him to death in a mob lynching,” the CM said.“These unruly people, who set police vehicles on fire, who attacked the police, who tore up railway tracks, who created chaos, who violated law and order, who disrupted the area’s peace and tried to spread unrest — are these protesters in your language?” he wrote.Adhikari also referred to a video which he claimed showed the organised nature of the killing, questioning Banerjee’s characterisation of those involved.“Are these ‘protesters’? Listen up: Just as in the new Bengal, individuals linked to heinous crimes like rape and the torture of women and children will not be spared—they will face the harshest punishments—so too, under the current govt, all criminals involved in the crime of beating an innocent, blameless person to death will be brought under legal action in accordance with the provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and subjected to the strictest penalties,” Adhikari stated.He further said the practice of committing crimes under the cover of a crowd would not be tolerated and said every accused would be identified, prosecuted, and punished in accordance with the law.Banerjee had earlier criticised the govt’s handling of the incident and described those involved as protesters, prompting the CM’s sharp rebuttal.
