Gouge out Opposition workers' eyes: TMC leader tells party cadres

Kolkata: Three days after he was caught on camera threatening to thrash and break limbs of opposition leaders, controversial Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anubrata Mondal on Saturday was back in the news with his order to party workers to gouge out the eyes of opposition activists and replace those with artificial eyes.

Mondal, known for his inciting speeches, also asked his party workers to ensure the state's ruling Trinamool Congress won all seats in Birbhum district uncontested in the coming Panchayat polls.

"No one should panic. You know how to organise yourself during an election. In the Panchayat elections, Trinamool will win uncontested. There is no need to be afraid. If anybody shows you red eyes, gouge out his eyes, there won't be any problem. Instead, fit artificial eyes," Mondal, the party's Birbhum district president, said at a public meeting.

On November 15, Mondal had gone ballistic after some villagers protesting against a proposed government project near Shantiniketan in Bolpur, razed down a wall and beat up construction workers.

As Congress heavyweight and Leader of Opposition in state assembly Abdul Mannan and CPI-M leader Bikash Bhattacharya tried to reach the spot, the police forced them to return to Kolkata.

Soon after, Mondal dared them to return, and threatened to break their limbs if they dared to come back to the area.

Standing beside police officers, he gave them a few hours to arrest the villagers and put them behind bars.

"Otherwise, we will bulldoze in. Not even one house will stand intact. We will destroy everything. I won't hear your stories. After 9 p.m, I won't leave these houses intact, and set fire to them... If they create trouble I don't care whether it is Abdul Mannan or Bikash Bhattacharya. I will thrash them and break their limbs."

In the past, Mondal has time and again made headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Five years ago, during the previous Panchayat polls, Mondal had asked party workers to bomb the police and set afire houses of opposition candidates.

Ahead of last year's state assembly elections, Mondal threatened that "not a single polling agent from the opposition will be visible" on the polling day in his fief Birbhum.

Mondal was reprimanded by the Election Commission, which also restricted his movements on the day of poll.