Suvendu Questions Mamata’s 2021 Nandigram Injury, Cites ‘No Fracture’ Report

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has reopened the controversy surrounding Mamata Banerjee’s leg injury during the 2021 Assembly election campaign in Nandigram, citing a medical report that he says found no evidence of a fracture or dislocation. He has also indicated that the circumstances surrounding the episode will be investigated after the ongoing bypoll process is over.

Addressing a press conference at Nabanna on Saturday, Adhikari displayed what he identified as a radiodiagnosis report from the Bangur Institute of Neurosciences, dated March 11, 2021 — a day after Banerjee was injured while campaigning in Nandigram.

According to the document cited by Adhikari, there was “no evidence of fracture or dislocation” in Banerjee’s leg. On that basis, the Chief Minister alleged that the severity of the injury had been misrepresented during the 2021 election campaign.

Adhikari said that X-ray plates are generally handed over to patients while copies of the corresponding reports remain with hospitals. He claimed that he had obtained the relevant report and said the document contradicted the political narrative that Banerjee’s leg had been “broken” in Nandigram.

However, the medical record requires a careful distinction. A finding of no fracture does not mean that Banerjee sustained no injury.

Contemporary reports from March 2021 show that doctors treating Banerjee at the state-run SSKM Hospital had described severe bony and ligament injuries to her left ankle and foot, along with injuries to her right shoulder, forearm and neck. An X-ray reportedly also showed degenerative joint disease in her left leg. She was treated at SSKM and subsequently discharged with her injured foot immobilised before continuing her election campaign in a wheelchair.

The controversy dates back to March 10, 2021, when Banerjee was injured at Birulia in Nandigram shortly after filing her nomination for the Assembly election. She initially alleged that four or five people had pushed her while she was standing near her vehicle. The incident immediately became a major political controversy.

The Election Commission subsequently sought reports from the state administration and its observers. Based on the reports submitted to it at the time, the poll panel reportedly found no evidence of a premeditated attack and indicated that the injury had occurred in the presence of a large crowd amid inadequate security arrangements.

Adhikari has now offered a different account of the physical circumstances surrounding the injury. He alleged that the open door of Banerjee’s vehicle struck an iron structure and rebounded, hitting her leg. This remains Adhikari’s account of the incident and has not been established as a fresh official finding.

The Chief Minister also said the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) was looking into the matter and indicated that further action would follow once the Model Code of Conduct is lifted.

Nandigram and Rejinagar are scheduled to vote in Assembly bypolls on October 6, with counting on October 9. Adhikari said he would provide further details after the election process is completed.

His announcement effectively revives a politically contentious episode more than five years after it occurred. The 2021 injury had become one of the defining images of that Assembly campaign, with Banerjee conducting rallies from a wheelchair after leaving hospital.

The latest medical document cited by Adhikari adds a specific point to the debate: the radiology report he displayed reportedly recorded no fracture or dislocation. It does not, however, establish that Banerjee suffered no injury, since the doctors treating her at the time had separately documented bony and soft-tissue injuries.

Whether there was any deliberate misrepresentation of her medical condition is therefore not established by the report alone. That question, along with the circumstances in which the injury occurred and the basis for any subsequent investigation, would require examination of the complete medical and investigative records.

As of October 3, no fresh investigative findings establishing wrongdoing by Banerjee have been made public. Adhikari has said further details on the proposed investigation will be disclosed after the bypoll process concludes.