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Wife of CRPF jawan killed in Pulwama attack is BJP candidate for Bengal bypoll
A bypoll will be held in Dhupguri assembly seat in north Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district because the BJP MLA, Bishnu Pada Roy, who too was a former Army personnel, died on July 25
The wife of a Central Armed Police Force (CRPF) personnel killed in the 2019 Pulwama terror attack has been fielded by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the September 5 bypoll at the Dhupguri assembly seat in north Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district.
The seat is reserved for the Scheduled Caste community and all parties have fielded members of the local Rajbangshi community that constitutes a sizeable section of the region’s population.
Jagannath Roy, the husband of the BJP nominee Tapasi Roy, was among the 40 CRPF personnel killed in the February 2019 terror attack at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir by a suicide bomber of the Jaish-e-Mohammad.
The bypoll will be held because the BJP MLA, Bishnu Pada Roy, who too was a former Army personnel, died on July 25. In 2021, he defeated Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate Mitali Roy by around 4,000 votes.
The ruling party has alleged that the saffron camp is trying to use the terror attack for political gains.
TMC state vice president Jay Prakash Majumdar said: “The loss of lives at Pulwama has been projected by the BJP several times for political gains. It helped the BJP win the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. It is so wrong to connect national security and sacrifice of our soldiers to politics. No other party has ever played this dirty politics.”
Tapasi Roy could not be contacted by HT despite several efforts.
The BJP state leadership, however, reacted sharply to the TMC’s allegation.
Bengal BJP’s chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said: “Suspecting the role of the Army and using defamatory language in reference to our security forces is part of the TMC’s culture. Both Left and the TMC treat the Army as a professional force instead of respecting it as a nationalist organisation.The TMC has insulted the armed forces once again today by making such a statement.”
The TMC has fielded Nirmal Chandra Roy, a history professor at Dhupguri Girls College, for the bypoll.
Honouring the national alliance against the BJP, the Congress has left the seat for the CPI(M), which has nominated Ishwar Chandra Roy, a retired school teacher and folk singer, who has popularised the local Bhawaiya songs.
The north Bengal region has turned into a BJP stronghold since 2019 when it bagged 18 of the state’s 42 seats, creating a record. In north Bengal, the BJP secured seven of the eight Lok Sabha seats.
In the 2021 assembly polls, the BJP bagged 75 of the state’s 294 seats. In north Bengal, it captured 30 of the 54 seats.
