Mamta Banerjee Injured While Boarding Helicopter To Address Rally In Asansol

The West Bengal Chief Minister is reported to have been lightly injured.

27 April 2024

By Khushi Maheshwari 

The West Bengal Chief Minister suffered a minor injury in Durgapur, Paschim Bardhaman today after she slipped and fell after stepping into her helicopter while taking a seat. She was helped by her security staff and resumed her travel towards Asansol to address a poll rally. 

Watch video here:

A lot of ‘X’ (formerly known as twitter) users have called her out for staging an injury to appeal to the sympathy of voters in view of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. 

Comments like the following popped up rampantly under ANI’s ‘X’ post: 

“Routine drama before every election. Getting an injury and a photoshoot!” 

“Eagerly awaiting images of Mamta Didi with bandages, plasters and stuff” 

“drama starts” 

“Now again drama of sympathy by doing bandages. Still she can not win.”

However, certain users expressed genuine concern about her fall and well being. 

More than a month ago, on 14th March, the veteran leader suffered a painful injury on her forehead and nose after she suffered a fall inside her house in Kalighat, Kolkata. 

Post the injury she had to be hospitalised for a couple of hours. Karthik Banerjee, the chief minister’s brother, informed a Bengali news channel that Mamata had a cerebral concussion and deep cut on her forehead which was bleeding quite heavily. 

Manimoy Bandyopadhyay, the hospital director, had sparked speculations over the cause of her fall after he stated that Banerjee fell due to some external push, but he later clarified in another statement that what he meant was that she must have experienced a feeling of being pushed, and that he did not want to insinuate that she was actually pushed. His statement was acutely misinterpreted. He added that their job was to tend to her injuries and they have accomplished that. 

At the time, some harsh comments mocking Banerjee from the opposition BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari received a lot of flak for being “anti-women” from the TMC. Shashi Panja, West Bengal’s Women and Child Development minister, demanded an official apology for the same.