- Khagen Murmu, BJP MP from Maldaha Uttar, was injured while distributing relief materials in Jalpaiguri
- 500 men blocked the road, shouted 'go back', and threw stones at Murmu and local MLA Shankar Ghosh
- The attack Monday afternoon came hours before Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's visit to the area
Khagen Murmu, the BJP MP from Bengal's Maldaha Uttar seat, was seriously injured in an attack in the state's flood-affected Jalpaiguri region Monday afternoon. Horrific visuals showed Murmu with severe head injuries and profuse bleeding; his white scarf was bathed in blood.
Murmu and other BJP leaders, including MLA Shankar Ghosh, were both attacked, as they distributed relief materials to people affected by the floods. They are being treated at a local medical facility.
The BJP's Bengal unit chief, Samik Bhattacharya, was also due to visit affected areas.
JP Nadda, the BJP's national boss, spoke to Murmu over the phone, sources said.
Sources also said over 500 men blocked the roads, chanting 'go back', before the attack.
Minutes after the bloody visuals emerged the BJP launched a fierce counter-attack, with Amit Malviya leading the charge on X. "TMC's Jungle Raj in Bengal!" Malviya raged.
"... a respected tribal leader and two-time MP from North Malda was attacked by TMC goons while on his way to Nagrakata in Jalpaiguri's Dooars region to help with relief and rescue efforts after devastating rains, floods, and landslides," he said on X.
Slamming Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, he accused the Trinamool Congress leader and her administration of being "missing in action" when needed in flood-hit areas. "Those actually helping the people, BJP leaders and karyakartas, are being attacked for doing relief work."
"This is TMC's Bengal, where cruelty rules and compassion is punished."
The BJP's Suvendu Adhikari, the Leader of the Opposition in the Bengal Assembly, also weighed in.
Adhikari, a former close aide of Mamata Banerjee, targeted her directly over her "inhuman act of 'dancing at carnival with celebrities' when North Bengal is reeling under floods and landslides">
"So, she has now pressed the panic button and unleashed her goons from the 'special community' and incited them to attack BJP MPs and MLAs to refrain from relief work."
"But Mamata Banerjee, you can't intimidate BJP..." he said.
Neither the Trinamool nor Banerjee have responded to the Murmu incident so far, although the Chief Minister is also expected in North Bengal. As she left Kolkata this afternoon, she told reporters she plans to land at an Air Force station in Hasimara and then travel to Nagkarata, a flood-affected region.
The unconscionable attack will ramp up enmity between the ruling Trinamool Congress and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of next year's Assembly election.
