Kolkata: The youth, who slapped Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, was arrested on Monday on various charges, including attempt to murder.
Debashish Acharya, a 25-year-old engineering student, was thrashed by workers from Banerjee’s party after the slapping incident. He has suffered multiple head injuries, is believed to be in a critical condition and is slipping in and out of consciousness.
Acharya’s political affiliations are not clear. While being taken to hospital, he is believed to have muttered “I am Khudiram’s spirit. I will be reborn. Goodbye Indians.” The reference was possibly to Khudiram Bose, a freedom fighter, who was hanged.
A TV channel quoted police sources as saying that in recent months, Acharya had been staying at the residence of an alleged RSS worker Tamal Pallab Biswas, who was questioned on Monday.
The TMC, meanwhile, went into an overdrive to defend party workers who had beaten up Acharya. West Bengal Panchayat Minister and senior TMC leader Subrata Mukherjee said the beating was ”nothing” compared to the gravity of what he did. He also recalled how members of a particular community were lynched after former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated.
“The reaction after the slap is just nothing. It was a natural and spontaneous one, though one wishes it had not happened. But we must remember that after Indira Gandhi was shot dead there were so many incidents of lynching… In this case, that has not happened and the accused has not died,” he stated.
Opposition parties immediately latched onto Mukherjee’s comment. They wondered how Mukherjee could give the Indira analogy and justify the assault.
CPM leaders have demanded arrest of the Trinamool Congress supporters who had assaulted the youth.
Meanwhile, Mamata’s nephew MP Abhishek Banerjee said he had forgiven the perpetrator and wished him early recovery. ‘‘Today is a new day, let us look ahead,” he said in his Facebook post.
