Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal has asked TMC workers to work for panchayat polls
Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal, who was caught on camera three days ago threatening to
break the limbs of opposition leaders, has asked party workers to increase the violence quotient -- this time to "gouge out" their eyes.
The TMC's Birbhum district chief, while asking Trinamool workers to ensure the party gets all seats in the upcoming panchayat elections, also had a word of advice that seemed to suggest he was all for violence.
"No one should panic. You know how to organise yourself during an election. In the panchayat elections, Trinamool will win uncontested. There is no need to be afraid," Mr Mondal told TMC workers at a public meeting. "If anybody shows you red eyes, gouge out his eyes, there won't be any problem. Instead, fit artificial eyes," he added.
On November 15, Mr Mondal had gone ballistic after some villagers protesting against a proposed government project near Shantiniketan in Bolpur, razed down a wall and beat up construction workers.
When Congress leader Abdul Mannan and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Bikash Bhattacharya were coming to meet with the protesters at the area, the police forced them to return to Kolkata.
Soon after, Mr Mondal threatened to break their limbs if they returned. Standing beside police officers, he gave them a few hours to arrest the villagers and put them behind bars.
"Otherwise, we will call bulldozers. Not even one house will stand intact. We will destroy everything. I won't hear your stories," Mr Mondal had said.
"After 9 pm, I won't leave these houses intact, and set fire to them... If they create trouble I don't care whether it is Abdul Mannan or Bikash Bhattacharya. I will thrash them and break their limbs," the TMC leader had said.
This is not the first time Mr Mondal has use the threat of violence to keep his flock together. In the last panchayat elections five years ago, Mr Mondal had asked party workers to bomb the police and burn the homes of opposition candidates.
Before the assembly elections last year, he threatened that "not a single polling agent from the opposition will be visible" on election day in Birbhum. He was then
pulled up by the Election Commission.