West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh threatens TMC leaders with 'jail or direct encounters', gets booked by police

West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders would soon be either jailed or killed in encounters, according to several media reports.

Ghosh, the state party president, was addressing workers in the north Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district. “A lot of TMC leaders are flexing muscles and threatening our workers. Either they will go to jail or there will be direct encounters,” Ghosh said, according to a report in  The Indian Express.  “We are counting the bullets which killed our workers. Just like the way Gabbar Singh said kitni goliya hain (how many bullets are there), the day will soon come when we will count the bullets as well as the bodies. We have not signed a bond where it is written that we will offer them rasgullas if they beat us up.” [caption id=“attachment_4404675” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh. News18[/caption] According to a report in  Financial Express, Ghosh also took a jibe at TMC leader Anubrata Mondal, who is known as Kesto: “We have burst the bubble of Kesto in Birbhum. We will do the same thing elsewhere. No bullet or gun will be able to stop us. We have come here to warn them not to attack our workers. Otherwise we will beat them in such a way that there will be no place left in their bodies to tie bandages.” Ghosh was in Jalpaiguri district to protest against the alleged killings of his workers in Purulia, reported  NDTV. The TMC condemned his remarks and called it hate speech, according to the report.  India Today reported that a case has been registered against Ghose and he has been booked under sections 143, 186, 188 and 506 of Indian Penal Code. This isn’t the first time Ghosh has landed himself in controversy. Ahead of 2018 panchayat elections, he said that the fight for the local body elections would not end at polling stations and that he would take the fight to crematoriums, according to a report in News18. NDTV reported that Ghosh had to apologise to chief minister Mamata Banerjee in 2016 after he said the BJP could drag her by her hair and throw her out for opposing demonetisation. Ghosh, also addressing a meet of party workers at Birbhum in 2016 — where clashes over a Facebook post by a student occurred — said whoever raises slogans of  ‘Pakistan zindabad’ will be beheaded, according to the report.