The Trinamool Congress (TMC) filed a complaint against a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader on Saturday for allegedly threatening to kill TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Nirmal Chandra Mondal, a local BJP leader from Suri in Birbhum district of West Bengal, was caught on camera making alleged inflammatory statements during a demonstration against alleged violence by TMC cadres outside the SP office on Friday.

In the video aired on news channels, Mondal is heard saying, “Didi (Mamata Banerjee) what would happen if your nephew (Abhishek Banerjee) is murdered?”

He is also heard claiming that the BJP “knows how to take revenge”. Commenting on the killing of BJP workers in Kerala allegedly at the hands of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist), Mondal said, “CPI(M) has killed one BJP worker, then in response BJP has eliminated two.”

“Our leader Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, son of Asutosh Mookerjee, has told us that always protest the wrong, thwart the wrong, and if need be take revenge for the wrong. We will take revenge now. RSS is the organisation of men,” he went on saying.

TMC MP Derek O’Brien objected to his remarks on social media. Slamming the BJP for Mondal’s remark, O’Brien said on Friday, “The BJP is desperate. Beyond desperate. Open death threat issued to MP and @AITCofficial Youth President @abhishekaitc by BJP leader today. Now the Home Minister has some more serious questions to answer.”

The BJP is desperate. Beyond desperate. Open death threat issued to MP and @AITCofficial Youth President @abhishekaitc by BJP leader today. Now the Home Minister has some more serious questions to answer

— Derek O’Brien (@derekobrienmp) August 3, 2018

Meanwhile, the BJP attempted distance itself from Mondal’s comment. West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said that the party does not support such comments but defended Mondal saying that he had not given any threat as was being claimed by the TMC.

“He has not given any threat. He has just asked a question. However, our party does not support this and we will talk to him,” Ghosh was quoted as saying by ANI.

There has been a sharp rise in case of political violence in West Bengal especially since the panchayat elections. The BJP has accused TMC supporters of killing some of its party workers in the areas where the saffron party performed well.

The recent case was the killing of Shaktipada Sardar, the 45-year-old secretary of BJP Mandal committee of Mandirbazar -Dhanurhat area in Diamond Harbour. Sardar was hacked to death on 27 July. The BJP accused TMC workers of the murder.

On 30 May, the body of a 20-year-old BJP worker was found hanging from a tree in Purulia’s Balarampur with a chilling message on the back of his white T-shirt, “BJP politics at only 18 years”.

On 2 June, the body of BJP worker Dulal Kumar was found hanging from a power transmission tower in Purulia. A month later, the body of Dhormo Hazra, a Dalit BJP worker, was recovered from a pond in Shaktipur area of Murshidabad. Hazra’s body was found with his hands tied.

In all the cases, the BJP accused the ruling TMC of orchestrating the murders of its supporters and workers.