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Opposition blames TMC for deaths in Bengal, party hits back
At least 18 people were killed on Saturday as violence broke out during voting for the three-tier panchayat polls across 20 districts
Widespread violence during voting for the panchayat elections triggered a political blame game in West Bengal on Saturday with the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) accusing the Opposition of orchestrating violence, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) calling for President’s Rule in the state to end this “death of democracy”.
At least 18 people were killed on Saturday as violence broke out during voting for the crucial three-tier panchayat polls across 20 districts, taking the toll in rural election-related incidents to 37 since June 9.
The BJP blamed state election commissioner Rajiva Sinha for the deaths and shot off a letter to Union home minister Amit Shah demanding his “intervention” alleging democracy has been “murdered in the state by the ruling party as the security forces played the role of an audience”.
In the letter, signed by BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar, the party alleged that “15 political deaths occurred just on the day of poll”, and accused TMC supporters of being “proactive in snatching voter/Aadhaar cards of the common voters as several karyakartas faced false cases and others were hospitalised”.
Union minister Anurag Thakur, too, took a swipe at the ruling TMC. “The announcement of elections in West Bengal means the beginning of the murder of democracy. Fighting with people, firing, bombings, and arson have become a common thing... Under Mamata Banerjee’s government, ballot boxes are looted and democracy is crushed and killed,” he told news agency ANI.
BJP national president JP Nadda promised action against the perpetrators. “BJP will not let this death of democracy happen, and we will take this fight to a decisive level in a democratic way,” he said.
Taking a swipe at CM Mamata Banerjee, state Congress president Adhir Chowdhury “congratulated” her for winning the polls. “Congrats Didi... aapni jite gechen’ (you have won).”
“Ballot boxes were taken out at night, false votes were cast and those were put back in the boxes before being returned to the polling booths,” he alleged.
The Communist Party of India (Maoist), meanwhile, blamed the TMC for the deaths. It’s “their politics of loot and killings that have led to such a situation,” party’s central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said.
The ruling Trinamool Congress, which claims to have lost eight of its supporters in the violence, dismissed the allegations and blamed the Opposition and the central forces.
“A narrative is being spun by the opposition parties with the help of the Governor CV Ananda Bose and a section of the media that elections in West Bengal are always violent. There have been few instances of violence, but if you compare with previous elections, you will see that the incidents of violence and deaths have gone down drastically,” TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said.
“We condemn all incidents of violence. But the fact is that elections have been peaceful in 14 districts and violence was restricted to areas around only 60 of the state’s 61,636 polling booths, which the media and the opposition are not talking about,” he said, and alleged that the BSF has tried to influence the voters in border areas.
State minister Bratya Basu, too, dismissed allegations of the state administration letting loose a reign of terror, claiming that the TMC has been at the “receiving end of the violence perpetuated by the opposition”.
(With agency inputs)
