The minister known for shooting off his mouth at the slightest provocation allegedly said during an election campaign meeting that if he had his way he would have lifted and dumped (a la a wrestler) leader of the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities Chhatradhar Mahato in Lalgarh, Midnapore and then put him in the cooler. The minister said this while campaigning for Forward Bloc candidate from Barasat, Sudin Chattopadhyay.

The adivasi leader who has been making the Bengal government go around in circles for not agreeing to allow police personnel to man the elections in Lalgarh had challenged the minister, known for being tough, to repeat his statements (read if he had the guts) by coming over to Lalgarh. The state government believes that the adivasi leader of Lalgarh has the backing of Maoists, one reason why the police have not been able to enter the area ever since a landmine blast aimed at the chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee which he escaped late last year.

A complaint was lodged with the state’s chief electoral officer Debashis Sen against the transport minister. The question that has been raised is whether Subhas Chakraborty as a minister could make such comments. There have been demands the EC take strong action against him. The CEO’s office procured a video recording of the minister’s speech and has sent it to the Election Commission. Along with the video clip, the EC has also sent a report by the returning officer of the Barasat Lok Sabha constituency. The minister was said to be on a collection drive for party funds when he made this comment against the adivasi leader last week.