Mamata Banerjee goes home, likely to release party manifesto on ‘Nandigram Day’

KOLKATA: Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee stepped out of SSKM Hospital’s Woodburn Ward in a wheelchair on Friday evening, two days after suffering an injury on her left foot while campaigning in Nandigram.
The six-member medical board treating her said they wanted to keep her under observation for 48 more hours but she repeatedly urged them for an early release. The CM will be wearing special footwear — white chappals that are bigger than her usual blue-strapped chappals — which will ensure the plaster cast is not disturbed.She will be examined by the medical board after seven days.
“The injury has improved satisfactorily. We advised her to remain under observation at the hospital for 48 hours more but she insisted on returning home. So a set of advice and instructions have been given to her. She must follow them to ensure that the injury heals quickly,” IPGMER director Manimoy Banerjee said.
Banerjee resumed work from the hospital bed on Friday, recommending that governor Jagdeep Dhankhar accept the resignation of minister of state Bachchu Hasda, who defected to the BJP, and assigning Hansda’s responsibility to Rabindranath Ghosh. It is not clear when she will be able to hit the campaign trail again. But party seniors said it was not likely to happen before Monday though she may release the party manifesto on March 14 — observed by Trinamool as “Nandigram Day” in commemoration of the 2007 police firing — with a special section on Nandigram.
The first indication that Mamata could be released on Friday came around 3.30 pm, when the hatchback used by her in Kolkata reached SSKM Hospital. Diamond Harbour MP and nephew Abhishek Banerjee’s wife, Rujira Banerjee, and their daughter reached the hospital a little later; they were followed by Abhishek.
Director (security) Vivek Sahay and state health secretary Narayan Swarup Nigam reached the hospital some time later and Mamata left the hospital around 7 pm, accompanied by minister Firhad Hakim and Abhishek and acknowledging with folded hands the applause and the slogans from the crowd waiting outside.
Those who visited the CM at the hospital before her release included former India and Mohun Bagan footballer Subrata Bhattacharya, Calcutta High Court chief justice TBN Radhakrishnan, historian Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri and activist Medha Patkar. “The attack on Mamata Banerjee is not only an assault on democracy but also molestation of a woman leader. Guess by whom? Those who are proved to be patriarchal and violent. Punish them,” Patkar had said earlier.