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BJP says 2 workers killed in Bengal after attack on Abhishek Banerjee’s car
Bengal BJP chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya has accused TMC leader Udayan Guha of instigating ‘violence’ against BJP workers in the state after an attack on Abhishek Banerjee’s car in Tripura on Monday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday alleged that two of its workers were murdered in Bengal by members of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).
A day earlier on Monday, TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee posted a video in which some miscreants, alleged to be BJP workers, were seen shouting slogans against him while a man hit his car with a bamboo stick. The incident was condemned by Bengal BJP’s chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya, who said the attackers were not BJP workers. However, Udayan Guha, a senior TMC leader from Dinhata in north Bengal’s Cooch Behar district, later wrote on his Facebook page that BJP workers and leaders in Dinhata would be “well taken care of” after what happened in Tripura.
On Tuesday, the Bengal BJP alleged that Tapan Khatua, a party worker from Egra in East Midnapore district and Indrajit Sutradhar, another party worker from Khoyrasol in Birbhum district, were murdered by TMC workers between Monday night and Tuesday morning. While Khatua’s body was fished out from a pond, Sutradhar’s was found hanging in an abandoned house.
“Khatua’s body has been sent for post-mortem examination. There was no apparent sign of violence but a probe is on,” an officer from Egra police station said on condition of anonymity.
An officer from Khoyrasol police station said, “Sutradhar’s family said he left home on Monday night. There are reports that he had a dispute with some local villagers.”
In both districts, TMC workers alleged that the BJP was trying to pass off unnatural deaths as murders to gain political mileage.
Reacting to this, Samik Bhattacharya said, “It is unfortunate that every time a BJP worker dies in Bengal the ruling party says it is a case of suicide. There is no rule of law. Udayan Guha instigated this violence. The BJP has moved court and carried out democratic movements but post-poll violence has not stopped.”
“If BJP workers attack Abhishek Banerjee’s car with bamboo sticks, should we greet them with sticks of tuberose? The BJP should be careful,” Guha told HT.
Bhattacharya also alleged that a BJP office at Jalpaiguri in north Bengal was vandalized.
Kisan Kalyani, president of the TMC’s Jalpaiguri district unit denied the allegation.
“We have no such information. In the past, BJP workers ransacked their own offices and put the blame on us. Since morning, we have been holding peaceful demonstrations in protest against the attack on Abhishek Banerjee’s car in Tripura,” Kalyani said.
North Bengal, especially Cooch Behar district, has been witnessing unrest since the state polls held in March-April. Union minister of state for home affairs, Nisith Pramanik, is the BJP Lok Sabha member from Cooch Behar.
Pramanik contested the Dinhata assembly seat and defeated Guha, who was the sitting legislator, by 57 votes. Guha suffered multiple fractures in his right arm and two of his security personnel were injured when they were attacked, allegedly by BJP workers, on May 6. Denying the charge, BJP leaders said the attack was a fallout of infighting in TMC.
Assembly polls will be held again in Dinhata as Pramanik resigned from the assembly to retain his Lok Sabha seat. On May 13, governor Jagdeep Dhankhar faced demonstration by TMC workers at Dinhata which he visited to meet alleged victims of post-poll violence despite a strong advisory from chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
During the trip, Dhankhar was accompanied by Pramanik and the party’s district unit president Malati Rava Roy. They took the governor to some villages where people alleged that TMC workers attacked them and ransacked their homes after the poll results were announced on May 2.
