A comment made by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee here on Monday declaring a Communist Party of India (Marxist) worker, who was seriously injured in a bizarre incident of a policeman opening fire on him during the civic polls, a “notorious criminal,” has sparked off a controversy.
Arindam Dhar, a CPI(M) worker was leaving the polling booth after casting his vote on Sunday when a policeman of the Tripura State Rifles shot at him, injuring him in his leg.
The State government has recommended the suspension of the policeman concerned to the Tripura government. Polling had been smooth at the booth till the incident and there was apparently no reason for the policeman to have shot at Mr. Dhar.
Immediately after the incident, there was a commotion in the area and voting had to be suspended until the crowd was pacified by CPI(M) leaders.
Although Mr. Dhar was immediately rushed to hospital, he lost a lot of blood and is currently on ventilator support. His condition continues to be critical and an operation to amputate his leg may have to be carried out, hospital sources said.
Asked to comment on the incident, Ms. Banerjee said that Mr. Dhar was a “notorious criminal” and that had the policeman not shot at him, he would have been “murdered.”
"Baseless"
Her comment drew the ire of neighbours and associates of Mr. Dhar who claimed that her accusations were baseless and quite insensitive considering Mr. Dhar was fighting for his life.
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and his wife Meera Bhattacharjee visited Mr. Dhar at the hospital during the day. Several senior leaders of the CPI(M) including State Secretary Biman Bose, Sujan Chakrabarty and Kanti Ganguly also visited him.
