'Result of public resentment': BJP after attack on Abhishek Banerjee in Bengal's Sonarpur

Kolkata, May 30 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said on Saturday that the attack on Trinamool Congress General Secretary and the party's Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee was the result of "public anger and resentment" towards the previous ruling party in West Bengal. 

Abhishek Banerjee was severely heckled on Saturday after he reached Sonarpur in South 24 Paragans district of West Bengal to meet a party worker who reportedly became a victim of post-poll violence after May 4, when the results of the recently concluded state Assembly elections were announced.

Reacting to the attack on Abhishek Banerjee, BJP MP Dinesh Sharma said: "The way they (Trinamool) have committed atrocities against people, against mothers and sisters, so many people have been killed, BJP workers have been killed, so people's anger towards him is justified."

However, Sharma added that there is no need to take the law into one’s own hands.

"I would appeal everyone that violence cannot be answered in the same way. We cannot support any kind of violence," he said.

Echoing similar view, BJP MP Rahul Sinha claimed that there is immense public resentment against Trinamool Congress leaders.

"When Mamata Banerjee went to court, people were raising 'chor-chor' slogans. Among them were members of the public as well as lawyers. Look at the situation of Abhishek Banerjee today. People allegedly threw eggs and slippers at him. This shows the extent of the anger people have against them even after ousting them from power," he told IANS.

Saying that the BJP does not support this kind of attacks on anyone, Sinha added: "People are so angry over Abhishek Banerjee that not only in West Bengal, he would be treated in the same manner, because they (Trinamool) have committed atrocities against the common people."

He said it is the people's "natural reaction".

While mentioning that the law keepers are attempting to stop such violence, Sinha said: "One cannot stop the public's natural protest."

BJP MP Soumitra Khan credited the Bengal Police for the efforts in rescuing Abhishek Banerjee during the attack.

"We are in politics for so long but the public has never thrown eggs or slippers at us. But he (Abhishek Banerjee) has tortured the people so much, this is the result of that," he told reporters.

He added: "Especially the atrocities that have been committed on women, this their expression of anger."

BJP MLA Sanjay Kumar Singh echoed that the attack is the "result of the resentment among the people here".

However, Singh also said: "Such an incident is condemnable, and the Bharatiya Janata Party does not support it."