‘TMC leaders will be beaten up with shoes’: BJP leader Dilip Ghosh’s remark triggers controversy

A commotion was caused on Thursday when BJP national vice president Dilip Ghosh threatened that senior Trinamool Congress politician Sougata Roy “would be beaten with shoes” after a speech in which he criticised party opponents. Roy reacted sharply to Ghosh’s remark, stating that the BJP politician lacks “formal education” and is in communication with the TMC after losing the backing of the saffron party.

After the arrest of two TMC officials in separate incidents, Roy had said that “shoes will be made by peeling off the skin of those who believe they can get away by maligning the party” under the guise of protest, implying that the opposition parties were unfairly “maligning” the TMC. Although he first felt no remorse, he eventually came to feel bad about saying it.

“Sougata Roy is a veteran politician. He was a professor once upon a time. But we are stunned to hear the language he used to attack the opposition. He is telling his party cadres that shoes will be made by peeling off the skin. The day is not far away when people will beat him up with shoes. The TMC leaders will be beaten up with shoes in various parts of the state,” Ghosh said.

When asked about the comments made by the BJP politician, Roy said that he did not like to comment.

“It’s beyond my dignity to comment on what a person with little or no formal education is saying. Dilip Ghosh himself is in touch with our party as he no longer enjoys the confidence of the BJP leadership,” he said.

After the arrests of prominent party members Partha Chatterjee and Anubrata Mondal, Ghosh said that such statements demonstrated the newfound “fear” among TMC officials.

Chatterjee was detained by the ED for his role in the school recruitment fraud, while Mondal was detained by the CBI for allegedly refusing to assist in the investigation of a cattle smuggling ring.