'Will burn your face with acid': Why did TMC leader Abdur Rahim Bakshi threaten BJP MLA in fiery speech?

Trinamool Congress (TMC) president for the Malda district Abdur Rahim Bakshi on Saturday made vitriolic comments about attacking a BJP MLA with acid.

At a gathering organised to protest against what he called "atrocities against Bengali-speaking migrant workers" in other parts of the country, he launched a fiery tirade against BJP MLA and chief whip Shankar Ghosh, as per an NDTV report.

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However, Ghosh was not mentioned by name in Bakshi's speech, the report added.

Ghosh was suspended for a day from a West Bengal Assembly session earlier this week for creating tensions during a discussion on a government resolution over "atrocities" against Bengali migrants, according to Speaker Biman Banerjee.

When he and a few other BJP MLAs refused to leave the session to let West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee speak, they were marshalled out. Ghosh reportedly fell ill soon after.

Referencing Ghosh's comments in the session in which he called the migrant workers "Rohingyas" and "Bangladeshis", Bakshi warned that "if I hear you saying this again, I will burn your voice to ashes with acid inside your mouth".

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"You should know that this is West Bengal. We Bengalis will not give you a place to speak. I will burn your face with acid," he added.

Notably, a few years ago, Bakshi had even threatened to dismember leaders and party workers from the BJP, CPI(M), and Congress.

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His comments on Saturday quickly drew flak from the BJP, with Malda BJP MP Khagen Murmu calling it a culture of intimidation.

"The fear that Trinamool will lose in the next assembly elections is working for them," he added.     

India