Suvendu Adhikari claims Mamata faked 2021 Nandigram leg injury, says he has proof

Suvendu Adhikari on Friday alleged that Mamata Banerjee’s leg injury during the 2021 West Bengal Assembly election campaign in Nandigram was “fake” and said he had documentary evidence to support the claim.

Speaking while campaigning for BJP candidate Hasirani Rath ahead of the upcoming Assembly bypolls, Adhikari said he would place the evidence in the public domain if he was challenged over the allegation.

Addressing a gathering at Birulia bazaar in Nandigram II block, the same area where Banerjee was injured in March 2021, Adhikari said, “I went to the SSKM Hospital after becoming the chief minister. I am the president of the hospital committee since it falls under the jurisdiction of Bhabanipur (assembly seat), from where I am an elected representative.”

He added, “The X-ray plate is handed over to the patient concerned, but a copy of the report remains with the hospital. I now have that paper in my possession. She (Mamata Banerjee) was the chief minister then. Her doctors had written ‘no fracture’.”

Adhikari claimed that the open door of Banerjee’s moving vehicle had hit an iron pole by the roadside and rebounded on her, causing what he described as a minor leg injury. He also alleged that she later put a bandage on a leg that was fine and used the incident in a way that brought disrepute to Nandigram.

He said, “I will bring it out in the open, if I am ever challenged. I am also the police minister now. She insulted the entire Birulia locality and this region. The CID had repeatedly summoned our local leaders in connection with that incident. I have not forgotten any of that.”

Banerjee had suffered the injury in the Reyapara area of Birulia in Nandigram on March 10, 2021, during her election campaign. She had initially said that a few unknown people pushed her against her open car door, causing it to slam hard against her left leg in the middle of a heavy crowd.

In a later video message from the hospital, she said the crowd had pressed into her car while she was greeting supporters, and that her leg was crushed and injured. She was officially diagnosed with severe bone and ligament injuries to her left ankle and foot, along with bruising and pain in her right shoulder, forearm, neck and waist, and was taken back to Kolkata and admitted to the state-run SSKM Hospital.

After extensive tests, Banerjee was discharged on March 12 with her left foot in a cast. She continued her campaign in a wheelchair. In that election, the Trinamool Congress won 216 of the 294 seats, while the BJP won 77.

The latest remarks by Adhikari revisited one of the most high-profile moments of the 2021 campaign, with him alleging that Banerjee’s injury was not as claimed and Banerjee having maintained that it happened in a crowd during canvassing in Nandigram.