Mamata ‘was pushed from behind’

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who suffered injury on her forehead after a fall in her house in south Kolkata’s Kalighat area on Thursday evening and was hospitalised for a few hours, has returned home after undergoing stitches.

A PTI report from Kolkata quoted Director of the state-run SSKM hospital, Manimoy Bandyopadhyay, as saying that the chief minister was brought to the facility with a “history of fall within the vicinity of her home due to some push from behind.”

According to the news agency, there was no confirmation if there was any police complaint regarding Banerjee’s fall. Calls to Kolkata Police commissioner Vineet Goyal, who was also there at the SSKM, went unanswered, PTI added.

Times of India quoted an unnamed family member as saying that Mamata “fell face first and hit the sharp edge of a small cabinet”.

The incident happened on Mamata’s return home at Harish Chatterjee Street in south Kolkata after attending an event on Thursday evening in Ekdalia Park near Gariahat to unveil the statue of late TMC leader Subrata Mukherjee.

After undergoing stitches and medical tests at the hospital, the TMC supremo was deemed stable and discharged, subsequently returning home.

Mamata’s nephew and TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, in whose car she was taken to hospital, said “with the blessings of the people of Bengal, she will be well,” he said.

“She fell somewhere inside the home and was immediately shifted to the hospital. She was bleeding from the forehead and stitches were required,” Mamata’s brother Kartik Banerjee told a Bengali news channel.

“She had a cerebral concussion and had a sharp cut on her forehead and nose which was bleeding profusely. Initially, she was assessed by senior doctors of the neurosurgery, medicine, and cardiology departments of our institute and her vitals were stabilised. Three stitches were applied on her forehead, and one on her nose and the required dressing was done. Investigations like ECG, echocardiogram, CT-Scan, and Doppler were done,” he said.

Manimoy Bandopadhyay said the chief minister was advised to remain at the hospital for observation but she preferred to go home. “She will continue to be under close watch and treatment. She will again be assessed tomorrow and subsequent treatment will be decided accordingly,” he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished Mamata quick recovery. “I pray for a quick recovery and the best health for Mamata Didi,” he wrote on X.

West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose went to the SSKM Hospital to visit Mamata. Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu (M K Stalin), Delhi (Arvind Kejriwal) and Odisha (Naveen Patnaik) also took to X to wish speedy recovery to Mamata.

The West Bengal chief minister suffered a ligament injury in Nandigram while campaigning for the assembly elections in March 2021. With a plastered leg, she had hit the campaign trail in a wheelchair.

She also suffered another injury in her left knee and hip when the helicopter carrying her made an emergency landing at an airbase in North Bengal last June.