A BJP worker was allegedly slapped by a Trinamul activist at a village in Duttapukur of North 24-Parganas when he was going to approach state food and supply minister Rathin Ghosh with a request to repair a road to a temple.

Ghosh was visiting the village as Didir Doot (Didi’s emissary), which is part of Trinamul’s mega outreach drive — Didir Suraksha Kawach (Didi’s talisman or armour of protection) — programme.

Saturday’s incident comes against the backdrop of a series of protests Trinamul leaders, including MPs and MLAs, have been facing while visiting rural Bengal as Mamata Banerjee’s emissaries.

Sagar Biswas, 42, BJP worker and member of the local Radha-Krishna temple committee at Saibona village of Duttapukur, was slapped repeatedly by Trinamul worker Shibam Roy while the minister was interacting with the villagers a few meters away.

The incident took place when Biswas, along with some other members of the committee, was approaching the minister to request him to repair the road.

“Shibam lost his cool immediately after he found the BJP worker there. He repeatedly slapped Biswas, asking him to move away. Taken aback, the embarrassed minister rushed to the spot and tried to control the situation by apologising to the BJP worker,” said a Trinamul leader.

“I told the minister that this is how his men behave with common people. Unfortunately, he requested me to forget the incident,” said Biswas, who later lodged a complaint with Duttapukur police station.

Angry BJP supporters later blocked the Barasat-Barrackpore road to protest the incident and took out a rally at Barasat and Nilganj in the evening.

Ghosh said: “It was certainly unfortunate. However, it was the result of a personal problem between the duo. I will enquire about the man who slapped the person (Biswas).”

The BJP and the CPM were quick to flay Trinamul and said it showed how ruling party workers misbehaved with people.

“There is an awakening among the people of Bengal and Trinamul is afraid. Assaulting people is their political culture and the incident proves violence and Trinamul are synonymous,” said BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharyya.

The CPM said people had realised that the Mamata Banerjee government had done little in the name of development and were now raising their voices against it.

“People are seeing ghosts in Didi’s emissaries. They have not done any development work in the last 12 years and have only looted the people. They will not be able to stop these protests by force,” said CPM leader Samik Lahiri.

Trinamul leaders admitted that the arrogant behaviour of party workers had been an embarrassment for the party.

Saibona was not the only reason for embarrassment for the Trinamul on Saturday, which marked the fourth day of the outreach programme.

A villager in Birbhum’s Mayureswar complained to Bolpur MP Asit Mal that local Trinamul MLA Abhijit Roy rolled up the window of his car if villagers tried to meet him.

“The leaders have already been asked to listen to people from all sections and report to the state. If such incidents started happening during the door-to-door visit, the situation will go beyond control,” he added.