(Mamata Banerjee outside the Planning Commission on Tuesday)
West Bengal Governor M K Narayanan has strongly condemned the "attack" on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her ministers in Delhi last evening, calling it a "premeditated assault" and "blot on India's cherished democratic values". Mr Narayanan has also demanded that the CPI(M) should apologise for the attack.
Ms Banerjee was heckled by Left student activists at the Planning Commission in Delhi. The activists, members of the Students Federation of India or SFI, also attacked Ms Banerjee's Finance Minister Amit Mitra, who is currently in hospital. The demonstrators were protesting against the death of a Left student activist in police custody.
(They tried to hit me with iron rod: Mamata Banerjee)In a statement released today, Mr Narayanan said, "The shocking premeditated assault on the chief minister, the finance minister and other ministers of west Bengal in the national capital yesterday is an extremely unfortunate incident and a blot on India's cherished democratic values."
He added that the attack "is serious enough to warrant a public apology by the Politburo of CPI (Marxist)."
The CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury has said that he disapproves of the attack on the Trinamool leaders, but also alleged that Ms Banerjee had courted a confrontation with protesters by using a gate that she had been asked to avoid by the police.
Minutes after the Governor's statement, Ms Banerjee announced that she has cancelled her scheduled meeting with the Finance Minister and is returning to Kolkata because "Delhi is not safe." Last evening, she had cancelled her meeting with the Prime Minister, reporting that she was unwell.
(After confronting violent protests, Mamata cancels meeting with PM)In her interaction with the reporters, Ms Banerjee also refuted charges that her party workers were attacking offices of the opposition Left in Bengal. "Our cadres are totally peaceful. Those causing violence are CPM cadres. My party workers are emotional but they listen to me when I tell them not to indulge in violence," she said.