Kolkata:
With the simmering tension between the Congress and the Trinamool turning explosive over the last week, the war of words became physical on Thursday as the student unions of the two allies clashed at a college in North Bengal. The clash saw Trinamool activists severely beating up the college principal.
Two Trinamool leaders, who were allegedly present during the violence, have not been arrested yet though they were named in the First Information Report (FIR) filed by college Principal Dilip Dey Sarkar. The FIR reportedly names party leaders Bhola Mukherjee and Tilak Chowdhury.
Close to 1000 Trinamool activists stormed the Raigunj College, ransacking class rooms and entering the principal's office. They allegedly dragged the college head out of his office and thrashed him. The police have arrested 10 people for the violence, apparently provoked by the principal's refusal to postpone students' elections in the college which is dominated by the Congress's
Chatra Parishad. The college has been closed for the next few days and a police team has been posted at the gate.
This is the second time in the last 30 days that the Trinamool has been involved in campus violence. On 17 December, two Trinamool councillors had led a mob to a prominent south Kolkata school and beat up the principal.
The two parties have had an uneasy relationship over the past few months, with the Trinamool blocking key policies of the UPA government like increasing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail.
They have been locked in a bitter war of words after the Trinamool refused to go along with the Lokpal Bill in the Rajya Sabha last week, citing concerns that the Lokayukta or the anti-corruption ombudsman in states being brought in by the Centre was an attack on the country's federal structure.
Matters reached a flashpoint earlier this week, when the Youth Congress held a protest against the West Bengal government's decision to rename Indira Bhawan, a building in Kolkata's Salt Lake area named after the former Prime Minister, to Nazrul Bhawan in memory of renowned poet Kazi Nazrul.
Trinamool leader and Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee accused its ally of going along with the Marxists. The Congress' central leadership sought to play down the differences but leaders from the party's state unit hit back by describing the Trinamool as the BJP's B-team.
The state Youth Congress has also taken on the state government over the issue of paddy prices for farmers.