‘Political violence will not to be tolerated’: West Bengal governor in Bhangore

Fresh clashes erupted at Bhangore in South 24 Parganas on Thursday, the last day of filing the nomination for the upcoming panchayat polls in which two persons were allegedly killed

A day after four persons were killed in clashes across West Bengal where panchayat elections are due on July 8, Governor CV Ananda Bose visited one of the violence-hit areas near Kolkata on Friday.

West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose (File Photo)

The governor said that political violence will not be tolerated, asserting that “there will be action and no alibi for inaction”.

“No violence would be tolerated. Whoever has resorted to violence would be brought to book and would be shown their place behind bars. There will be action and not an alibi for inaction,” Bose told media persons here on Friday.

Fresh clashes erupted at Bhangore in South 24 Parganas on Thursday, the last day of filing the nomination for the upcoming panchayat polls in which two persons were allegedly killed.

“I saw some places where unfortunate incidents of violence had taken place. I could interact with some of the victims and the local people. This is a fact-finding data-gathering period for me. I have made my own inferences. I would like to take further action based upon objective analysis of what I have seen, heard, analysed and experienced,” said the governor.

Following the incidents of violence, West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Sukanta Majumdar wrote a letter to Union home minister Amit Shah apprising him of the violence while seeking his intervention.

“I urge you to expedite the deployment of central forces as per the Calcutta high court order to maintain law and order and to prevent any further incidents of violence or disruption,” Majumdar wrote.

Meanwhile, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee Friday asserted that the panchayat poll nomination process was peaceful, and slammed the opposition parties for trying to create an issue over alleged incidents.

Banerjee hit back saying that panchayat poll nominations have not been peaceful in any state.

“Show me one state, having so many panchayat booths, where nomination has been peaceful ever in the past. The Bhangore-incident was done by some goons. We have lost two men. TMC didn’t trigger Bhangore-violence,” Banerjee said while speaking at a political rally in South 24 Parganas on Friday.

She also said that even though there are more than 60,000 booths, violence took place in only two of them.

“Thursday was the last day of nominations. More than 2.31 lakh nominations were filed. TMC is the ruling party and is fighting alone. We are contesting 82,000 seats. The opposition parties together have filed more than 1.5 lakh nominations. Still, they are alleging their candidates were not being allowed to file nominations,” Banerjee added.

Indian Secular Front legislator Nawasad Siddique told media persons that he has moved the Calcutta high court seeking a National Investigation probe into the Bhangore-clashes where two persons were killed.

Moreover, following the incidents of violence across the state, the Calcutta high court on Friday sought a report from the police on why candidates were not given protection while they were going to the block office to submit their nomination papers.

“The bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha has directed the police to submit a report on why candidates were not given protection while they were going to the block office to submit nomination papers,” Firdaus Shamim, counsel representing some of the aggrieved candidates told media.

Calcutta high court had on Tuesday ordered that Central paramilitary forces must be deployed in seven sensitive districts and other areas witnessing law-and-order problems to ensure free and fair panchayat elections.

On Friday, a separate bench of the Calcutta high court also allowed some candidates to file nominations who failed to submit their nominations on Thursday amid incidents of violence.