He announced that the state government would investigate the matter and said further steps would be disclosed once the by-election concludes. Ahead of the Nandigram by-election on October 6, a five-year-old episode of Bengal politics has taken centre stage. Chief Minister Suvendu has alleged that the then CM Mamata Banerjee had run a false campaign about a leg injury she suffered while campaigning in Nandigram during the 2021 Assembly elections.
She lost the Nandigram seat but led the party to a sweeping victory. The BJP finally won the state this year. The injury was widely seen as having earned her party sympathy among voters across the state at a time when the BJP had thrown its full weight against the TMC.
In the run-up to the 2021 Assembly elections, the injury left the Trinamool Congress chief in a wheelchair until the end of the campaign.
Five years later, ahead of the Nandigram by-election, the episode has returned to the spotlight after the Chief Minister announced a probe. Suvendu Adhikari first raised the allegation on Friday that she faked her injury while campaigning in Nandigram. A day later, he held an official press conference at the state secretariat, Nabanna. “The people of Nandigram were disrespected over this incident. “Once the election code of conduct ends, the CID investigation will continue… Kunal Ghosh, a Trinamool MLA loyal to Banerjee amid a split in the party, accused Adhikari of politicising the injury. In a social media post, he shared a photo of her injury and described Adhikari’s remarks as unfortunate and in poor taste. “The way he, or those in power in the state government, exploited their control over the hospital allowed them to fabricate whatever narrative they pleased and spread a distorted campaign.
Citing a hospital report dated March 11, 2021, Adhikari alleged that his predecessor had lied that her leg was fractured. Take a look at this document: ‘No evidence of fracture or dislocation’, dated March 11, 2021, from the Bangur Institute of Neurosciences,” Adhikari said.
If someone runs a fake campaign, insults the people of Nandigram, conducts a media trial and misleads the people of Bengal, action will be taken against them ,” he said. He said slandering and spreading propaganda about someone’s personal injury was objectionable, adding that the injury was real and the doctors who treated her could attest to it. However, the doctors who treated her at the time are the ones who know just how serious Mamata Banerjee’s leg injury actually was,” Ghosh said.
