West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee suffered a minor injury on April 27 after purportedly slipping and falling while boarding a chopper during election campaigning in the state’s Durgapur city.
The incident comes in the middle of the ongoing Lok Sabha Elections in which Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress is involved in a high-stake battle with the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress in 42 seats of West Bengal.
In 2019 general elections, the TMC had won 22 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal. The BJP won 18 while the Congress won 2 seats.
Mamata Banerjee is not new to injuries. The TMC chief, often called a ‘street fighter’, has met with several injuries and attacks throughout her four-decade-long political career. In fact, some even say that attacks and injuries have shaped Mamata Banerjee’s political career. In the recent past, images of her injuries have become a common sight, during elections.
Let’s take a look at Mamata Banerjee’s past injuries and attacks.
Gash on forehead: March 2024
In March this year, pictures of Mamata Banerjee were uploaded on the TMC’s social media page showing her in the hospital with a gash on her forehead. Mamata Banerjee had suffered injuries to her nose and forehead after she fell at her home in West Bengal.
Also Read: Mamata Banerjee slips while boarding chopper in West Bengal’s Durgapur, suffers minor injury: VIDEO
Soon after the pictures were shared on social media, political leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, wished the West Bengal Chief Minister a speedy recovery.
Leg injury in Spain: September 2023
Mamata Banerjee was advised to rest for 10 days after she sustained an injury to her left leg during her trip to Spain in September. The Chief Minister had returned to Kolkata after a 12-day official trip to Spain and Dubai to attract investments for the state. She had visited the SSKM hospital on September 23, 2023, where doctors confirmed that the Trinamool Congress supremo was injured a week ago while she was in Spain.
Back injury: June 2023
In June 2023, Banerjee’s chopper made an emergency landing in north West Bengal’s Salugara due to bad weather. The CM had suffered a minor injury to her back and knee and was taken to SSKM hospital in Kolkata. Banerjee was flying from Bagdogra to Jalpaiguri after a panchayat meeting when the incident took place.
Leg in cast: March 2021
In March 2021, in the run-up to West Bengal Assembly Elections, Mamata Banerjee sustained an injury in her leg when she was allegedly attacked in Nandigram, where she had filed nomination papers.
A few days later, Mamata Banerjee, with her leg in a cast, resumed her election campaign in a wheelchair. The TMC won the 2021 West Bengal elections with Mamata Banerjee becoming Chief Minister for the third consecutive time.
Fractured skull: August 1990
Among the most famous incidents in which Mamata Banerjee met with injuries was about 34 years ago when she was a Congress leader. On August 16, 1990, Banerjee, then a Youth Congress leader, was hit with a blunt weapon on the head causing a head injury. Lalu Alam, the DYFI leader accused of the attack on Banerjee, was acquitted by a city court for want of evidence in September 2019.
There are many other attacks involving Mamata Banerjee. In January 2001,for example, violence marked the meeting of Mamata Banerjee, the then Union Railway Minister, at Keshpur in Midnapore district of West Bengal. Banerjee had herself sustained injuries after stones were hurled at the meeting ground.
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Published: 27 Apr 2024, 04:48 PM IST