Digha: A video showing a BJP panchayat leader in East Midnapore smearing eggs on a veteran Trinamool Congress functionary and saying it was a “govt order” has gone viral. Subrata Jana, BJP Ramnagar II block panchayat opposition neta, later denied he was referring to the state govt, saying the Bengali word “sarkar” could have meant “even the magician P.C. Sorcar.”The nearly two-minute video, first aired by a local news channel, shows Jana confronting Manas Das, a septuagenarian former Trinamool panchayat member who had overseen public works. As locals questioned why he had targeted an elderly man, Jana repeatedly asserted that his actions were under a “sarkari” order and that he was “in charge.”Egg-pelting incidents targeting Trinamool functionaries since May have drawn sharp criticism from Calcutta HC, which termed the practice “dehumanising” and sought guidelines from the state govt to curb it.Two such incidents in Kalighat and Posta have already led to arrests, while separate petitions have since been filed by TMC MP Mahua Moitra and CPM’s Minakshi Mukherjee.Jana defended his conduct. “I did not throw eggs, I merely smeared him with them. You say he is old—his wrinkled skin could use the vitamins in eggs,” he said.He accused Das of corruption and of orchestrating false cases against BJP workers, including a rape case against him.“I may have lost my cool and said something I normally would not, but Das still seems to believe Trinamool is in power,” he added.Das could not be reached for comment. A local Trinamool functionary, requesting anonymity, said: “Wild allegations are now being used to justify brazen intimidation of Trinamool workers. Das is no longer a panchayat functionary. If there were genuine complaints, why were they not taken to the police?”
