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Mamata Banerjee bans BJP victory marches, cites violence
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee instructed the police not to permit victory processions of the BJP. At least seven persons have been killed in political violence in Bengal since election results were declared on May 23.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday banned victory processions by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state on the grounds that they were triggering violence and instructed the police to take “strong action against BJP leaders if they try to create trouble”.
Reacting to the ban, BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha said, “This order proves how bad the law and order situation in Bengal is and how the government has failed to do its duty. The confession comes from the person who is also the home minister.”
Addressing people outside the home of local Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Nirmal Kundu, who was killed at Nimta in North 24 Parganas on Tuesday, Banerjee said, “The family told me that Nirmal became an enemy of the local BJP because he was not letting them set up of a giant LCD screen outside his house to watch direct telecast of the swearing-in of the new government in Delhi. This is no ordinary supari killing. The conspiracy goes deeper. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) will probe the murder.”
At the same event, she instructed the police not to permit victory processions of the BJP. At least seven persons have been killed in political violence in Bengal since election results were declared on May 23.
State BJP leaders have claimed that Nirmal Kundu’s murder was the fallout of infighting in the TMC. But the police have arrested Suman Kundu, a BJP worker, suspecting him to be behind the murder.
Nirmal Kundu, 37, a civic ward-level TMC unit president at Nimta, was shot dead by three motorcycle-borne men. The killing was recorded by a security camera installed in the vicinity.
Ananda Roy, deputy commissioner of police (zone 2), Barrackpore, said, “Suman Kundu is known in the area as an active BJP worker. During investigations, we arrested Sujay Das, a criminal from the Baroah area of Murshidabad district, and seized a country-made single shot pistol and three cartridges. There are more suspects.”
An officer from Nimta police station, who is investigating the murder, said Das was a contract killer. The police are looking for two other criminals, Laltu and Biltu, who hail from Nimta.
“My son was working for the BJP. He went missing after our house was set on fire,” said Rita Kundu, Suman’s mother, even as the family of the victim sought police protection claiming they were being threatened by BJP workers.
“BJP-backed goons killed Nirmal,” said Sougata Roy, TMC MP from Dum Dum. BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said, “Miscreants in TMC are killing each other. They are dragging our name into their infighting.”
Banerjee, however, questioned the BJP winning 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state. “Had the victory come through support of the people, there would have been no violence,” she said.
