New Delhi:
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that student activists affiliated to the Left who attacked Amit Mitra, West Bengal's Finance Minister, this evening tried to hurt her as well when she was entering the Planning Commission in New Delhi.
"They had an iron rod, they tried to hit me," said Ms Banerjee at a press conference. "They can kill me but they can't stop me," she said of members of the Students Federation of India (SFI) who manhandled Mr Mitra. The 62-year-old minister said women activists attacked him with sticks; his
kurta was torn. (
Watch the video here)The students were protesting last week's death of their 22-year-old colleague, Sudipto Gupto. He was arrested during a demonstration by the police and ended up in hospital hours later with severe head injuries. Ms Banerjee has denied that the police battered him, as alleged by other students, and has said his death was "a petty matter."
(Read)Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, said he had apologised to Ms Banerjee for the "unruly protests outside our office."
Ms Banerjee is in Delhi to seek financial assistance from the Centre for her state, which is entrenched with debt. She is expected to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this evening.
In September, she quit his coalition, reducing the government to a minority. She said she did not agree with the economic reforms cleared by Dr Singh, who green-lit the arrival of foreign mega-stores like Wal-mart and Tesco.
Policemen deployed at the Planning Commission's office did not come to Mr Mitra's aid as he was heckled. The police later said that a group of 100 protesters had gathered at a gate that was not meant to be used by the Bengal leaders.
Ms Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, they said, is yet to lodge a police complaint and no arrests have been made so far.