KOLKATA: Concerned over reports of post-poll violence against BJP karyakartas pouring in from across West Bengal, BJP president Jagat Prakash Nadda today constituted a four-member team of senior leaders to visit the State and submit a report by next week.
A notice by Arun Singh, National General Secretary & Headquarter In-charge of the BJP, said that the team would have Biplab Kumar Deb, former Tripura CM, as the convenor and comprise senior leaders like Ravi Shankar Prasad, Brijlal and Kavita Patidar. All the four are BJP MPs.
The notice said: “We have just seen Lok Sabha elections conclude across 28 States and 8 Union Territories of India. Among the Assembly elections held, along with the national election, two States saw transfer of power. All this has happened peacefully, with no instance of political violence reported from anywhere, except for West Bengal, which continues to be in the vice grip of post-poll violence, the kind we saw post-2021 Assembly elections.
“West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee remains a mute spectator, while criminals of her party attack and intimidate opposition workers and voters with impunity. Even the Calcutta High Court has taken note of these excesses and extended deployment of CAPF till 21st June and has listed the matter for further review on 18th,” the notice said.
State BJP leaders have been highlighting the repeated instances of violence against BJP karyakartas after the Trinamool Congress won 29 out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, reducing the BJP’s seats to 12.
The violence has been reported across the State from Cooch Behar in the north to Diamond Harbour in the south. BJP leaders have said that more than 10,000 karyakartas have been forced to flee their homes and are taking shelter in party offices and homes of local-level leaders.
BJP state president and Union Minister of State Sukanta Majumdar told The Sunday Guardian: “Each and every place — from Cooch Behar in the north to Kakdwip in the south – our karyakartas have been attacked, houses and shops burnt down. This is Mamata Banerjee’s old game which she had learnt from the Communists.”
He informed that the reports of violence are so alarming that he would be visiting Jaynagar in South 24-Parganas, to provide support to partymen, while Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari had gone to Cooch Behar. Another senior leader Dilip Ghosh also visited a shelter in Amtala in Diamond Harbour constituency.
BJP sources said that on Sunday, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Suvendu Adhikari will probably bring a team of 100 victims to Raj Bhavan to meet Governor CV Ananda Bose. On Thursday, the Kolkata Police, citing Section 144 of the CrPC, which is in force outside Raj Bhavan, deployed hundreds of policemen and put up barricades and prevented Adhikari and the alleged victims of post-poll violence from entering the Raj Bhavan to meet Bose.
On Friday, the Governor himself visited Maheshwari Bhavan in central Kolkata where BJP supporters have taken shelter.
Meanwhile, BJP leaders are getting reports of continued violence from villages and towns across the State.
About a dozen houses and a BJP office were allegedly vandalised by goons, armed with iron rods and guns, in Barasat constituency’s Madhyamgram in North 24 Parganas district. Trinamool called it a clash between rival factions within the BJP. The police came to the spot along with CAPF jawans. However, the miscreants allegedly returned and ransacked the area after the security forces had left. The police are yet to arrest anyone related to the incident.
In Cooch Behar’s Natabari, in the northern part of West Bengal, a BJP supporter was chased by Trinamool Congress mob, while a BJP agent’s house was vandalized in South 24 Parganas’ Narendrapur. A BJP worker’s house was bombed and vandalized in Howrah.
Meanwhile, Barrackpore constituency’s Bhatpara has also been hit by violence. Within hours after the announcement of the Trinamool’s win in Barrackpore, miscreants raided BJP workers’ homes and ransacked them, causing an atmosphere of fear in the area. Bombs were also hurled in the region allegedly by Trinamool Congress supporters. Arjun Singh, BJP leader who lost the Barrackpore contest, alleged that armed Trinamool Congress supporters assaulted several BJP workers and vandalised their houses in his area.
Singh further claimed that the Trinamool Congress has instigated a reign of terror in Kakinara, Bhatpara, and other parts of Barrackpore constituency, with the State police and deployed Central forces allegedly turning a blind eye to the situation.
“TMC has let loose a reign of terror in Kakinara, Bhatpara and other parts of Barrackpore constituency. Our supporters have come under attack but State police and Central forces are mum,” he said.
These incidents have created a tense atmosphere in several pockets across West Bengal where Central forces are deployed until June 21.
The State has a notorious history of political violence with post-poll violence a big menace.
After Trinamool’s landslide victory in the 2021 State Assembly elections, post-poll violence had taken a drastic turn in West Bengal. Scores of Opposition party workers had to flee their homes and take shelter elsewhere.
Two days after the Lok Sabha results were announced on June 4, Calcutta High Court issued a directive allowing affected people to submit complaints to the State’s Director-General of Police via email.
The order came following a petition in the High Court seeking direction to police to ensure protection to Opposition party workers in the wake of post-poll violence in various places of the State following the elections.
Stating that similar allegations had come up after the 2021 Assembly elections, the court asked whether incidents of post-poll violence happened in any other State.
Expressing dismay at reports of post-poll violence following the general elections, the court emphasised the State’s responsibility to prevent recurrence of such incidents.
A division bench comprising justices Kausik Chanda and Apurba Sinha Roy directed that complaints can be sent to the DGP by email by persons who are allegedly affected by incidents of post-poll violence. If the complaint indicated a cognizable offence, the DGP would forward it to the relevant local police station for registration of First Information Reports.
In response, Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh claimed that BJP activists are attacking his party members in places like Cooch Behar, but “overall, the situation in the State remains peaceful”.
Ghosh suggested that clashes between old and new BJP members have intensified, with dissatisfaction among old-timers towards the role of newcomers during elections.
“At many places, the clash between ‘adi aar nabya’ (old and new) BJP workers has intensified as the old-timers are dissatisfied with the new entrants during elections. Unable to cope with the situation, the BJP is shifting the blame on the Trinamool Congress,” he claimed.
The Sunday Guardian visited a shelter run by Abhijit Das, alias Bobby, the BJP candidate who lost the Diamond Harbour constituency to Trinamool Congress second-in-command Abhishek Banerjee by a record margin of 7.1 lakh votes in an election marked by widespread irregularities. At the centre in Amtala on the outskirts of Kolkata, about 60 men and eight women have taken shelter.
“In the morning, we have tea and muri (puffed rice), while lunch and dinner is rice with dal and one vegetable. Only God knows how long we shall have to live like this,” said Kakoli Sardar, a woman in her mid-40s who had to leave her family behind and seek shelter after Trinamool activists stormed her house.