Follow lockdown norms, will fight battle legally: TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee to protesting workers

KOLKATA: Senior Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee on Monday urged party supporters to follow the law and refrain from violating the lockdown norms as they demonstrated in various parts of West Bengal against the arrest of two state ministers and an MLA.

Abhishek, a Lok Sabha MP who is the nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, said his party will fight the battle legally as it has utmost faith in the judiciary. "I urge everyone to abide by the law and refrain from any activity that violates lockdown norms for the sake of the larger interest of Bengal and its people. We have utmost faith in the judiciary and the battle will be fought legally," he tweeted.

I urge everyone to abide by the law & refrain from any activity that violates lockdown norms for the sake of the larger interest of Bengal and its people.

We have utmost faith in the judiciary & the battle will be fought legally.

— Abhishek Banerjee (@abhishekaitc) May 17, 2021

Hundreds of TMC supporters gathered outside the CBI office at Nizam Palace in Kolkata and protested against the arrest of senior ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee, and TMC MLA Madan Mitra in connection with the Narada sting operation case.

The CBI also arrested former Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee. At one point, the protest also turned violent with TMC supporters pelting stones and trying to breach the police barricade at the Nizam Palace complex's main entrance.

Protests were also held in other places in the city, including outside Raj Bhavan, and the districts with TMC workers blocking roads by burning tyres. West Bengal is at present under complete lockdown that began on Sunday in the wake of the rising COVID-19 cases.