Babul Supriyo, IT minister in the Mamata Banerjee cabinet and BJP MP and former judge of Calcutta High Court Abhijit Gangopadhyay entered into a heated exchange of words against each other on Vidyasagar Setu across river Hooghly on Friday night over alleged blowing of car horn.
Supriyo, a former BJP MP from Asansol, claimed that Justice Gangopadhyay, MP from Tamluk constituency, used foul language against him while the former judge maintained that it was the West Bengal minister, who had used unparliamentary language against him during the incident causing major traffic jam on the second Hooghly bridge, a prime lifeline connecting between Kolkata and Howrah and other south Bengal districts.
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“Babul Supriyo stopped my vehicle and used foul language,” Gangopadhyay alleged, claiming that the minister was apparently protesting against the blowing of horn, which he said occurred behind another car and not that of Supriyo’s vehicle.
Justice Gangopadhyay, also said that Supriyo had stepped out of his car and used foul language against him.
The IT minister, however, claimed that he had only wanted to tell Gangopadhyay that his vehicle was being driven fast, using a hooter.
Senior officials of Kolkata Police rushed to the spot around 9.30 p.m. to bring traffic back to normalcy along the bridge.
“But he (Gangopadhyay) used foul language against me as I approached him and I have also countered him using one or two indecent words. I also demanded him to say sorry on the spot,” the singer-turned-politician said.
Supriyo, who was a Union minister of state for urban development in the Narendra Modi government earlier, had left the BJP to join the Trinamul Congress in September 2021.
He became Trinamul Congress legislator after winning the by-election in Ballygunge Assembly constituency in 2022.
While reacting to the incident Kunal Ghosh, Trinamul leader, said, “I didn’t find anything wrong Babul has done. I have seen the video clip of the incident and didn’t find Babul using indecent words against Justice Gangopadhyay.”
Dilip Ghosh, BJP leader and former state president of the party, said that it’s the duty of the police to keep watch on vehicles violating permissible speed limits fixed by the administration. “Why was Babul so proactive to become vigilant on vehicles plying through the Vidyasagar Setu? It’s not his duty,” Mr Ghosh said.
