with the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

But as the Bengal - inspired politics would have it - while the two ministers were injured, Mamata Banerjee was heckled by CPI (M) - backed Students Federation of India (SFI) protestors agitating against the death of Sudipto Gupta, a member of their organisation in police custody in Kolkata earlier in April, 2013.

Banerjee and her colleagues were targeted even as the 65 – year - old finance minister (Mitra) was jostled. A woman protester thumped him twice on his chest and his kurta and dhoti were torn in the melee. Even though Banerjee was advised by police not to get down from her car and rather to drive straight inside the complex, she chose to walk through the slogan - shouting and placard - wielding crowd to enter the building.

She was immediately shielded by policemen and women amid chants of “Mamata Banerjee hai hai (Mamata down down), TMC hai hai, Hatyari Mamata sharm karo (have shame, killer Mamata)” by the SFI activists.

The Chief Minister, who was scheduled to meet the Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh later in the evening, cancelled her meeting at the last moment on health grounds.

“The Chief Minister was unwell. That is why the meeting with the Prime Minister had to be cancelled. She had sustained injuries on her shoulder, and her blood pressure had dipped” a source close to the Chief Minister told Eastern Panorama.

“Didi was advised by doctors to stay under medical observation and has been provided with oxygen support,” the source said.

Injured Amit Mitra was hospitalized at AIIMS, while Subrata Mukherjee was discharged after receiving first aid treatment.

Actually the vandalism against the Bengal leaders in high security Parliament Street – just opposite the historic All India Radio premises – wherein protestors are not allowed to congregate came as a blessing for the beleaguered Bengal government and Banerjee’s political outfit, the Trinamool Congress.

The custodial death of SFI activist in Kolkata had already put the Mamata regime on the spot. But within hours of the attack on the Chief Minister, the Trinamool Congress quickly made use of the opportunity and the party cadre took to the streets in Bengal in various places. The next day, CPI(M) party offices were attacked as was the prestigious Presidency College premises.

Delhi Cops blame Mamata  for the episode The Delhi Police has heaped blame on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the fiasco outside the Planning Commission building. In its routine report, police said that the security in charge of the Commission building had informed the Resident Commissioner of West Bengal that Mamata must enter the premises via the back gate to evade the protesters. Didi, however, refused to oblige and walked in from the front gate where the protestors were gathered.

On 10th April, a visibly ‘upset’ Mamata Banerjee also cancelled her scheduled meeting with the Finance Minister P Chidambaram and left the national capital with a brisk remark that Delhi is an “unsafe” place.

“I am sorry to say but Delhi is not a safe place,” she told reporters just before catching her special flight back home.

As understood that Bengal politics was in play in full swing – both behind the attack and as an aftermath of it; one Trinamool MP, Sukhendu Roy tried to give a new twist to the incident by saying that a pre - planned attack was made on the Chief Minister and others on the eve of the Panchayat elections to create a situation so that the demand for central forces could be justified.

The Trinamul workers led by Mukul Roy, Didi’s trusted aide, also staged a protest against the attack on the party leaders in the capital.

The Trinamool also has alleged that when the SFI activists were on the rampage, the Delhi police were standing around as mere onlookers. No doubt, the Prime Minister called up Mamata before leaving for Germany and apologized for the incident.

The Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia also expressed his regrets that the incident happened within the vicinity of the Yozana Bhavan.

But politics on the attack refused to die down. The West Bengal Governor M K Narayanan condemned the attack on the Chief Minister and went on to say that the assault was premeditated. He called it a “blot on India’s cherished democratic values.” Narayanan also demanded an apology from the CPI(M) for the attack. “The shocking premeditated assault on the Chief Minister, the finance minister and other ministers of West Bengal in the national capital yesterday is an extremely unfortunate incident and a blot on India’s cherished democratic values,” he said.

Curiously, this provoked an angry protest from the CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat, who wrote to President Pranab Mukherjee and questioned as to how, sitting in Kolkata Raj Bhavan, Narayanan could know that the SFI protest and the attack on Banerjee and her colleagues was premeditated.

On their part, Trinamool too did not leave the matter at that. The former railway minister Mukul Roy maintained that the CPI-M has been thrown out by the people of Bengal but “still they are not changing their attitude”.

The party also announced that it would stall Parliament proceedings to ask the Central Government how it allowed such an incident to occur in a high security zone in the heart of the national capital and that for days no arrest was made.

Swati Deb