December 19, 2024 05:49 (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
13 killed as Navy speedboat collides with ferry near Mumbai | My quitting won't help Congress: Amit Shah on resignation demands amid Ambedkar row | Elon Musk denies Starlink use in Manipur, says beams turned off in India | Congress' lies can't hide their misdeeds: Modi on row over Amit Shah's Ambedkar comment | 'Daily drama': BJP hits back at Congress' attack on Amit Shah over Ambedkar remark | Spin bowling legend Ravichandran Ashwin retires from international cricket | India-Australia third Test ends in a draw as rain plays spoilsport | 54-year-old leader calls himself Yuva: Amit Shah takes dig at Rahul Gandhi in Rajya Sabha | BJP to send notices to MPs absent during 'One Nation One Election' Bill tabling | GRAP 4 restrictions reimposed in Delhi as air quality dips to 'severe' category
Kolkata, July 18 (IBNS) West Bengal Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Subrata Mukherjee on Saturday defended Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee over his remark on the death of Maoist leader Kishanji and said people have misunderstood his statement.

 “I have personally enquired and found out that it was not what Abhishek meant and people have clearly misunderstood his statements,” Mukherjee told reporters  as he attended the 'khuti pujo' event of Star Cement Deshapriya Park Durgotsab here.

He said, “He did say that Kishenji died, but did not say who killed him. Abhishek never said if he was killed in an encounter or he just died. Nothing about it was said by him.”

In a big embarrassment for West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, her nephew and Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee has claimed that Kishanji was killed at the behest of the Trinamool Congress government.

His sensational statement is set to open the lid of allegations that the extremist leader was gunned down in a staged encounter on November 24, 2011 soon after Mamata Banerjee came to power.

"One of the biggest success of Mamata government is that we have killed Kishanji. That is because if any one lifts arms for violence he shall be treated this way. One should only lift arms for the protection of one's own country," Abhishek Banerjee said at a public meeting in Belpahari in West Midnapore.

The area was the heartland of Maoist activities led by Kishanji who during the previous CPI(M)-led regime had declared in public the Maoist support to Banerjee, then an opposition leader, capturing the state power.

The People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCPA) formed in West Bengal's Jangalmahal area with the direct backing of Maoists had also received Mamata Banerjee's sympathy as she met leaders of the organisation during her anti-government campaign that ultimately brought the Trinamool leader to power in 2011.

After Kishanji's killing, Mamata  Banerjee has always maintained that he was shot dead in an encounter with police.

Suchitra Mahato, who was said to be accompanying Kishanji during the "encounter" joined the Trinamool Congress months later as did several other PCPA leaders who once were close associates of Kishanji. 

(Reporting By Sudipto Maity)   
 

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.