Hate speech: TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee says ready to go to jail

 Embroiled in a controversy over his "chop off hands and gouge out eyes" remark, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew and Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday said he is not afraid of police cases and is ready to go to jail.

"I am not afraid of lawsuits against me. If needed, I may go to jail too," Abhishek said at a public meeting at Ranaghat in Nadia district. The state president of Trinamool Youth Congress was referring to a police complaint lodged by BJP state secretary Kamal Beriwal yesterday accusing him of instigating TMC workers to attack opposition workers.

"Those who dare to show their eyes, we will gouge them out and throw them on the streets. If someone shows us their hands we will cut them off. But you have to remember that in democracy, it is the common man who will have the last word," Abhishek had said on Monday.

During today's meeting, the TMC MP said those who are trying to come to power in Bengal through riots will fail. "Mamata Banerjee will shatter the dreams of BJP, CPI(M) and Congress. She cannot be bowed down by propaganda. The people are with her," he said. Abhishek also asked TMC workers who are involved with syndicates supplying construction materials to leave the party as "there is no place for them in Trinamool Congress."