'Don't have words to condemn Vidyasagar College incident'

Kolkata: State Education minister and Trinamool Congress secretary general Partha Chatterjee said on Wednesday that his department will restore the bust of Vidyasagar and repair the damages which were caused by hooligans belonging to BJP.

While interacting with the media, Chatterjee said: "A heritage institution like Vidyasagar College was ransacked by BJP activists on Tuesday. The state Education department will repair all the properties which have been damaged in the incident. Demolishing the bust of Vidyasagar was an insult to the people of Bengal. We will extend all sort of assistance to the college authorities in this regard."

Taking a dig at BJP's national president Amit Shah and his party, an irate Chatterjee added: "We don't even have any words to condemn the incident. It was a preplanned incident of hooliganism carried out by a communal party. The BJP leaders and activists shouted different slogans during Shah's road show to incite violence. They hatched a conspiracy to gain some political mileage out of the incident."

Reacting to Shah's claim that Trinamool Congress Chatra Parishad members who were inside the college campus were responsible for demolishing the statue, the Trinamool secretary general said: "BJP is trying to raise questions over the incident to cover up the crime that they have committed. We strongly condemn the incident."

Chatterjee also furnished a video showing the statue being vandalised. "The BJP activists were caught in the video with their party flags and saffron scarves at the spot. It clearly showed that they broke open the lock of the main gate and vandalised the college. Their leaders should hang their heads in shame after seeing the images of how their party activists ransacked the college," he added.

"How will they show their faces to the people of the country after carrying out such a heinous crime? The whole country has come to know that BJP carried out the attack. The students of the college were injured. The goons even looted the laptop of a professor, which contained important data relating to the college," Chatterjee maintained.

He also raised questions on why the BJP leader had put up festoons inside the campus of Calcutta University. Election Commission officials and police subsequently removed the festoons, which sparked tension as some BJP leaders later attacked Trinamool

activists, holding them responsible for removing their party flags. "How did they put up banners in government buildings in the first place?" Chatterjee asked.