- Monday, March 10, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
The eastern Indian state of West Bengal witnessed an ugly political pitch battle with the state’s opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) conducting a mission to march to the secretariat of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government of chief minister Mamata Banerjee in state capital Kolkata over alleged corruption.
As the state police personnel tried to stop the BJP leaders from progressing, Suvendu Adhikari, the state’s opposition leader, slammed a policewoman asking her not to touch him since he is a man. He was apparently saying this to the cop who tried to take him to a prison van.
The TMC mocked the BJP leader by saying in the same video, “Proclamation of the day: “Don’t touch my body. I am male!””
.@BJP4India's 56-inch chest model BUSTED!
Proclamation of the day: "Don’t touch my body. I am male!" pic.twitter.com/hHiWr0yuHE
— All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) September 13, 2022
Social media users hit the TMC back saying he was least at behaving like a gentleman.
Adhikari, who was later escorted by a male police officer, said he did not hit back despite being “manhandled” because he respects women.
“I see Ma Durga in the eyes of every woman,” Adhikari was seen saying in a video posted on Facebook by party colleague Locket Chatterjee, a parliamentarian, who was also detained.
Adhikari was a close aide to Banerjee before he joined the BJP ahead of the state elections of 2021 and even defeated the heavyweight leader from Nandigram, a politically sensitive constituency in Bengal.
Meanwhile, several BJP leaders were detained by the police during their operation. The police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the protesters as they clashed with security officials. A police vehicle was also set on fire by the protesters.
Banerjee, who was not in the city on the day, reportedly took a dig at the opposition party’s protest programme saying it was a flop show.
