Mob throws eggs and stones at Mahua Moitra; Bengal BJP president calls for restraint

A mob threw stones and eggs at Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra in her constituency in West Bengal’s Nadia district on Wednesday.

While BJP president Samik Bhattacharya blamed the attack on internal divisions in the Trinamool, Ms. Moitra said the BJP was behind it. Sharing a video of the mob, Ms. Moitra said: “There are no public outbursts..These are coordinated BJP attacks. See the BJP flags.”

The attack on Ms. Moitra came a day after Calcutta High Court asked the West Bengal government to frame guidelines for the transportation of the accused [mostly Trinamool leaders] in police custody. A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Justice Partha Sarathi Chatterjee on Tuesday (July 1, 2026) also asked the State for the existing guidelines on the transportation of the accused and asked the State to file a report on the action taken against egg attacks. The Bench also added that arrests of one or two persons will not solve the problem and that it was a question of social awareness.

The BJP president appealed to people to stop such attacks. Such instances affected West Bengal’s image in front of the whole country, he said. A few days ago, the BJP Rajya Sabha MP had said that throwing eggs was not part of the BJP culture or agenda. “If such incidents keep happening, the BJP’s reputation will be dragged through the mud,” he said.

There has been a spate of attacks, particularly with eggs, on local Trinamool leaders, councillors and former MLAs, who have been arrested on various charges, including extortion and election violence, after the regime change in West Bengal. A large number of people – some of them BJP supporters – have gathered outside police stations, courts, and even outside the residence of the accused, and thrown eggs at those in custody. Even sitting MPs and MLAs such as Saugata Roy and Kunal Ghosh had to face the ordeal.

Most of the time, the people indulging in such attacks allege the local Trinamool leaders had taken money from them and tortured them. They justified their action by saying it was public anger.