The CPM’s slogan ‘chor dhoro jail bhoro’ in the wake of two heavyweight TMC leaders languishing in jail, has apparently riled the Trinamul Congress (TMC) as its MP Sougata Roy has threatened that those calling the TMC members thieves will be chased out of their areas.

With two Trinamul heavyweights Partha Chatterjee and Anubrata Mondal behind bars with charges of money laundering and smuggling respectively, the CPM has increased its tempo in their rallies with the slogan Chor Dhoro Jail Bhoro. This slogan gained further traction after the Calcutta High Court made the Enforcement Directorate a party in the disproportionate asset PIL against 19 TMC MLAs. However, the TMC has not taken the slogan lightly as one after another threats from its party leaders have been surfacing with each passing day.

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The senior TMC MP Sougata Roy, who is also a former professor of Physics, has lately been hurling threats at Opposition parties for allegedly calling TMC leaders thieves. A few days back, while addressing a rally at Kamarhati, Roy said that if the opposition parties continue to call TMC members thieves, they will be flayed and shoes would be made out of their skin. Presently, he has been more direct and said if the CPM continues to call his party members thieves, the TMC workers will ensure they are driven out of their areas.

Roy, on several occasions earlier has protested against the use of such threats and insisted on maintaining some dignity in politics but has now put himself in the soup. The CPM has raised questions over his stature as a professor. The CPM central committee member, Sujan Chakraborty, asked, “Is this the language that a professor uses? With each passing day, Sougata Roy is revealing his true colours. He is now threatening that people will be forced out of their areas. This has to be stopped.”

The CPM state secretary Md Salim asked, “Why is the slogan bothering Roy so much? We have said that thieves must be put behind bars but it seems the slogan has riled up most TMC members. Why doesn’t Mr Roy make things easy and announce the names of the corrupt TMC leaders so the rest of the party can live in peace? Did the TMC at one point not refer to the CPM as the party of ‘harmads’?