Kolkata: CM Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday made public a five-year-old medical report by Bangur Institute of Neurosciences to claim that Mamata Banerjee’s leg injury in the run-up to the 2021 Bengal assembly elections was “false”. The CID was probing the case, he added.Trinamool also released a five-year-old image of Banerjee’s bleeding left knee, saying it was illegal to make confidential medical reports public, and dubbed the CM’s statement “tasteless filth-mongering”.Banerjee had injured her left knee during election campaign in Nandigram’s Birulia on March 11, 2021.Showing medical records, Adhikari said: “During a speech in Nandigram on Friday, I said that in 2021, the whole of Nandigram was insulted by the then CM. Her leg was allegedly broken. I have the report from Bangur Institute of Neurosciences, dept of radiodiagnosis, dated 11.03.21, which says there was no evidence of fracture or dislocation.”The SSKM medical report read: “No evidence of fracture/dislocation.” A second report read: “No bony injury seen.”“I am not saying anything extra as of now. CID is probing the case; once the election model code of conduct is lifted, I will initiate a fresh probe into this false propaganda. Just as an investigation takes place when you file a complaint, action can also be taken against you if you make a false complaint. I will inform you about this after Oct 9,” Adhikari said.The Nandigram bypoll is scheduled for Oct 6, with the results set to be declared on Oct 9. In the 2021 assembly polls, Adhikari defeated Banerjee by 1,956 votes, a result that has been challenged in Calcutta High Court. The matter is sub judice.Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh cited National Medical Commission rules and the Supreme Court’s ruling on the right to privacy and said: “His vile politics ahead of the bypolls is reprehensible and condemnable. It is once again proven that Mamata-di is whom BJP considers the real opposition… Moreover, doctors and institutions never have the practice of disclosing anyone’s personal medical information outside, and govt should remember that too. How much further will they drag politics down?”Ghosh added, “Slandering and spreading misinformation about anyone’s personal injury is reprehensible. Mamata-di had a foot injury and the doctors concerned are witnesses to that. The CM should understand that even if something breaks (fractures), it can be set or healed. But a deep injury to soft tissue, muscle and bone is hard to heal completely. Even now, the swelling on Mamata-di’s foot is not normal.”Bengal BJP spokesperson Debjit Sarkar, posting Banerjee’s medical reports on his X handle, said: “Now, the truth lies bare and open. Mamata Banerjee’s entire act of being in a hospital with a bandage around her leg was nothing but exaggerated drama.”Adhikari, while campaigning for BJP’s Nandigram candidate Hasirani Rath on Friday evening — incidentally in Birulia as well — raked up the issue first. He said: “I do not like personal attacks. After becoming CM, I went to SSKM Hospital. I am chairman (of Rogi Kalyan Samiti) there. X-ray plates are usually handed over to the patient, not kept by the doctor; only the report remains. Didn’t she bring disgrace upon all of you that day? The car door had struck an iron beam, it swung back and lightly hit her leg. Yet she roamed around with a bandage, claiming her leg was broken. I still have those papers with me. She was the CM then. Her own doctors had written that there was no fracture. If needed, and if challenged, I will produce them. I am also the police minister now. I will show how she insulted all of Birulia and Nandigram.”Campaigning for Nandigram bypoll ends on Sunday evening. Trinamool does not have a candidate in Nandigram and is backing Congress candidate Milan Pradhan.
