TMC fact-finding team to visit Delhi’s violence-hit Jahangirpuri

Opposition parties and civil society members have slammed a demolition drive in Jahangirpuri as an act of “revenge”

Kolkata: A fact-finding team of West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) will visit Delhi’s violence-hit Jahangirpuri and submit a report to chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

The team will submit a report to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. (ANI)

“We are sending a four-member fact-finding team comprising women MPs [members of Parliament] to Jahangirpuri. I will be there to monitor it. But only the women MPs would visit the spot. We came to know that many have not been allowed to enter the area. We want to see whether the authorities would allow the all-women team,” said TMC lawmaker Sudip Banerjee.

Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Satabdi Roy and Aparupa Poddar, and Arpita Ghosh left Kolkata on Friday morning for Delhi ahead of their visit to Jahangirpuri, where eight policemen and a civilian were injured in the violence last week.

Opposition parties and civil society members have slammed a demolition drive in Jahangirpuri after the violence as an act of “revenge” even as municipal authorities have maintained it was a “routine” exercise. Delhi’s three civic bodies are under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s control.

The Supreme Court on Thursday restrained the North Delhi Municipal Corporation from carrying out the drive until its further orders. It took a “serious view” of the apparent disobedience of its directive to immediately stop the drive on Wednesday.

The BJP has sent fact-finding teams to Bengal to look into the alleged rape of a teenage girl, who died a day after she was allegedly sexually assaulted, and the massacre of nine people following the killing of a TMC leader in Birbhum even as the Centre Bureau of Investigation is probing these cases. TMC has accused BJP of misusing central agencies to target the state government. 

Sudip Banerjee said TMC is against forceful eviction in Jahangirpuri. “In this [Jahangirpuri] case, the Supreme Court’s order has been violated and eviction is being done without any notice. This is condemnable.”

Congress leaders including Ajay Maken visited Jahangirpuri on Thursday even though they were not allowed to meet the affected families.

BJP leader Dilip Ghosh said there are enough competent persons in Delhi to handle the situation in Jahangirpuri. “Soon after the incident [violence] happened, the accused were arrested. When will we get to see such actions in West Bengal? When will anti-social elements, who commit rape and murder, be arrested? Does the state government have such willpower? This question needs to be answered first,” said Ghosh.