Kolkata:
Mamata Banerjee will return to Kolkata today. She has cancelled her meeting with Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram that was scheduled in the afternoon. Ms Banerjee came to Delhi to seek financial assistance for her state, which owes nearly 2 lakh crores in loans to the Centre.
Ms Banerjee took ill after being heckled in the capital last evening by SFI activists. The West Bengal Chief Minister has appealed to her party workers for peace after they went on the rampage last evening attacking offices of the CPI(M) and its student wing, the Student's Federation of India (SFI).
The Trinamool Congress will observe Wednesday as condemnation day and has planned marches in Kolkata and Delhi this evening to protest against the attack on Ms Banerjee and her Finance Minister Amit Mitra.
The two leaders were entering the planning commission office when they were assaulted. The 66-year-old Mr Mitra bore the brunt of the attack; he said he was beaten with sticks and his
kurta was torn. He was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and is still in hospital.
Ms Banerjee said after the incident, "They had an iron rod, they tried to hit me," adding, "They can kill me but they can't stop me. I am a product of the students' movement."
As soon as news of the assault reached West Bengal, Trinamool workers launched their revenge attacks. CPM and SFI offices were targeted in Habra, the CPM's district office in Siliguri was vandalised, a former CPM leader's car was ransacked in Sreerampore and a condolence meeting in Barrackpore for Sudipto Gupta, the 22-year-old SFI activist who died last week, was disrupted. (
Read)
The SFI activists who attacked the Trinamool leaders were protesting Mr Gupta's death while he was in police custody.
The Delhi Police have registered a case against unknown persons for the attack on Mr Mitra and Ms Banerjee, but has made no arrest yet. (
Read)
Last evening, the SFI expressed regret over the incident. "I strongly condemn the incident, this is wrong politics" said former chief minister and Left leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharya.