At least 90 people were injured on Monday when part of a makeshift tent collapsed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally for farmers in West Bengal’s Midnapore, PTI reported. Modi met the injured at Midnapore Medical College after his speech.
“Out of the 90 admitted to the hospital, 66 were males and 24 female,” Panchanan Kundu, the principal of Midnapore Medical College and Hospital, told the Hindustan Times. “Fourteen were discharged after preliminary treatment. The condition of two is critical.”
Many enthusiastic BJP supporters were seen crowding inside the tent amid heavy rain during the rally, and Modi could be heard asking them to be careful, unidentified officials told PTI. People reportedly climbed on to the rods supporting the tent. The tent collapsed during his speech, and Modi immediately asked his security personnel to attend to those hurt.
“It happened so suddenly,” 55-year-old Swarno Mahato, a resident of Goaltore in West Midnapore district, told The Indian Express. “As the structure broke down on us, first I was hit by an iron rod. I fell down on the mud. Then people ran over me and I lost consciousness.” Mahato attended the rally with her elder daughter-in-law Sumitra, who said she never imagined this would happen.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the government would provide medical assistance to those injured. “We pray for the speedy recovery of all those injured at the Midnapore rally today,” Banerjee said on Twitter. “The government is giving all help for medical treatment.”
During his speech, the prime minister claimed West Bengal’s condition had deteriorated under the Trinamool Congress government, and everything, from setting up hospitals to building roads, needed the approval of a “syndicate”.
The syndicate is indulging in extortion, conspiring to murder political opponents and torturing the poor, Modi alleged.
“The real face of those who made claims of ‘maa-maati-manush’ [mother, motherland, people] has been exposed in the last eight years,” Modi said. “Their syndicate has been exposed. Even the funds given by Centre to the state – nothing works without the syndicate, whether the funds are used or not, and where they are used.”
Modi told farmers that his government is “your government, it is a government of farmers”. “Our government worked for farmers... from quality seeds to market, it is important to have warehouse to save the produce,” he said.
Modi also claimed that democracy had been wounded by the killings of “Dalit workers” of the BJP in the state.
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