West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was back on the roads of Kolkata on Sunday, four days after suffering injuries at the hustings in Nandigram. Leading a TMC march on a wheelchair, Mamata was greeting the crowd with folded hands as her security personnel pushed her wheelchair.
Banerjee joined the five-kilometer roadshow from Mayo Road to Hazra More as part of the observation of Nandigram Diwas to commemorate the killing of 14 villagers in police firing during the anti-land acquisition protest in 2007.
Addressing the crowd from her wheelchair, Mamata said that an injured tiger is far more dangerous. Banerjee was injured in her left leg, head, and chest while campaigning in Nandigram on March 10 after filing her nomination, an incident the ruling TMC claimed was a "BJP conspiracy to take her life".
"I have faced a lot of attacks in my life but I have never surrendered before anyone. I will never bow my head. An injured tiger gets more dangerous," Mamata said.
The Election Commission, however, ruled out any attack on Banerjee after reviewing the reports sent by its two special poll observers and the state government. The Commission concluded that Mamata sustained injuries due to a "lapse on part of her security in charge".
"Doctors advised me against going out for campaign today. But I felt that I should participate in today's rally as we have already lost a few days due to my injury. "My pain is not greater than the suffering of people as democracy is being trampled through dictatorship," she said.
Banerjee said she will leave for Durgapur Sunday evening and address two rallies on Monday. Carrying posters and placards hailing Banerjee as the "daughter of Bengal", TMC supporters raised slogans against the BJP and called for "defeating the outsiders" in the assembly elections.
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