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Updated: Aug 28, 2019 13:10 IST

A case has been registered against Bharatiya Janata Party’s West Bengal unit president Dilip Ghosh at the Kolaghat police station for asking party workers to retaliate and beat up Trinamool Congress workers and police personnel if they were attacked, according to news agency ANI. He also assured them that there was no reason to be scared and the party would pitch in to help if any problem arose.

“Don’t be afraid of TMC goons and the police. If you are attacked, beat up TMC workers and police personnel. Don’t be afraid. We’ll manage if there’s any problem,” Ghosh allegedly told BJP supporters. In the course of his speech, Ghosh reportedly told BJP workers that Trinamool Congress workers could be quashed like flies and mosquitoes.

This is not the first time that the BJP’s Bengal unit president has made such controversial statements. Earlier this month, Ghosh had put his foot in his mouth by saying that a woman who had allegedly been beaten up by party supporters had been “let off with a light dose”.

A woman, in her late twenties, said she wanted to speak with Ghosh but was not allowed to enter. Speaking to the media, the woman said when Ghosh left the meeting and was getting into his vehicle, she tried to hand him a letter, but BJP supporters dragged her away and thrashed her.

“I was trying to hand over a letter to Dilip Ghosh when I was attacked,” she said.

Ghosh, who was present at the time the woman was beaten up, said, “She came to create trouble. She belongs to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and is not associated with the BJP. I don’t have an idea how much she was thrashed. But she should have been soundly beaten up. She was let off with a light dose.”

BJP district leaders said the woman earlier belonged to their party but had joined the TMC recently.

His comments had sparked widespread outrage among his political opponents.