E-Paper
Political slugfest in West Bengal over incidents of violence before rural polls
Reports of back-to-back violence over the last two days come against the backdrop of the TMC and BJP preparing for panchayat elections likely to be held in March-April 2023
Kolkata: Incidents of violence in some districts of West Bengal since Wednesday have triggered a political slugfest with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accusing the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) linking the violence to panchayat elections likely to be held in March-April 2023.
Amal Mondal, vice-president of the BJP’s local rural unit at Jharkhali in the South 24 Parganas district was assaulted, allegedly by some TMC workers, on Wednesday. Mondal said he was having tea at a roadside stall when the attackers pounced on him without any provocation. Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar, who met Mondal on Friday morning at the Canning hospital, alleged that the leader became a target simply because he worked hard for the party during the assembly polls last year.
“Faced with repeated threats, Mondal had to live in hiding for months after the polls. TMC workers planned to murder him after he returned home. Police complaint has been lodged against two persons but no arrest has been made so far,” Majumdar alleged.
While a district police officer said it was investigating the case, TMC leaders claimed that the attack had nothing to do with political rivalry because the ruling party swept all recent polls in South 24 Parganas.
“TMC will easily win the election in that area. Why should anyone attack a BJP leader? The violence could be the fallout of infighting in the BJP,” TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said.
In another incident, supporters of two TMC leaders were injured in a clash in the Memari area of East Burdwan district on Wednesday night, police said.
Supporters of TMC’s Memari town unit president Swapan Ghosal clashed with party workers loyal to Swapan Bishayi, head of the local municipal body over recent changes in the party’s local unit. Some houses were also allegedly ransacked.
Although the police arrested nine people, Ghosal claimed that the incident had nothing to do with the TMC.
“There was some dispute between members of two families,” said Ghosal. Bishayi could not be contacted.
Meanwhile, Tuhin Subhra Bose, a fire brigade employee, was hacked to death in the early hours of Thursday at Krishnanagar in Nadia district after he objected to some youth drinking alcohol at a Kali puja immersion procession. Officers of the local police station said two men were arrested on the basis of a complaint by the victim’s family.
Leader of the opposition in the Bengal assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, alleged that TMC workers hacked Bose to death. The BJP, however, did not claim Bose to be one of their supporters.
The 2018 panchayat polls witnessed widespread violence and around 20 murders. The TMC bagged around 90% seats, of which 34% were uncontested.
TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee has told party workers in recent meetings that no violence will be tolerated in the coming panchayat election and only those with clean track records will be nominated.
“Many in TMC feel that corruption in the panchayats and the violence in 2018 were largely responsible for our debacle in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP won 18 of the state’s 42 seats. Mamata Banerjee, too, has said in her recent meetings that she is keeping track of leaders facing corruption charges,” a TMC leader said on condition of anonymity.
Since February, the TMC top leadership has replaced many old leaders and state-level officer bearers have been asked to meet workers coming from the districts with grievances.
