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Shah plans Bengal visit as row over attack on Nadda escalates
BJP blames ruling TMC for attack as MHA summons Bengal chief secy, DGP; state govt hits back, says law-and-order state subject.
The attack on Bharatiya Janata Party chief JP Nadda’s convoy in West Bengal’s Diamond Harbour escalated into a massive political row on Friday, with Union home minister Amit Shah planning a trip to the poll-bound state next week and top state officials declining to follow a central government summons to discuss the law-and-order situation.
Diamond Harbour is the Lok Sabha constituency of Abhishek Banerjee, chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, and the war of words holds significance as the BJP is making a strong pitch to wrest power in the state next year.
After stones were pelted at cars in Nadda’s convoy, an incident that the CM described as “staged by the BJP to draw public attention”, the Union home ministry on Friday asked chief secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay and director general of police Virendra to appear before it on December 14.
This drew a strong reaction from the Trinamool Congress (TMC), arguing that law-and-order was a state subject, and therefore outside the Centre’s remit. Chief secretary Bandopadhyay wrote back to Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla on Friday afternoon, seeking relief from personal appearance. The letter said security cover was provided to Nadda on Thursday, action was being taken by the state police, and seven people arrested.
BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, national vice-president Mukul Roy and national secretary Anupam Hazra were among those hit by stones, the BJP said on Thursday.
“Nadda was saved because he was in a bulletproof car provided by the local police. However, the rest of the claim about police deployment is a lie. We saw no policemen along the route,” Roy, said on Friday.
In an interview to HT on Friday, Vijayvargiya said the CM and her nephew were “100 per cent” responsible for the incident. “The goondas were throwing stones in front of the police. We do any protest, they throw tear gas at us, or [fire] pellet guns. But when TMC people do this kind of goondaism, they just stand and watch. It means that it’s all happening with their consent,” he said.
The state’s governor Jagdeep Dhankhar held a media briefing slamming the state government. “Finding the situation alarming, as my constitutional duty, I have sent a report to the central government about the extremely disturbing developments that do not augur well for democratic value...,” he told a press conference.
The TMC, however, reacted sharply to his remarks, calling him a “conduit pipe” of the BJP.
In an internal report, the contents of which were shared by TMC leaders, the state police on Friday informed the CM that a criminal case was registered against Rakesh Singh (a BJP leader) for provoking the agitators at Sirakhol. The incident of “vandalism” took place for 10-15 minutes and nothing happened at Diamond Harbour, said the note sent to Banerjee. Rakesh Singh, senior police officers said, was among the accused when a bust of 19th century social reformer and educationist Vidyasagar was vandalised in a Kolkata college named after him during a rally of Amit Shah prior to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The report sent to Banerjee also mentioned that Nadda was provided with a bulletproof vehicle and a pilot car in addition to the security cover by central police forces that he enjoys. The report added that four additional superintendents of police, eight deputy superintendents, eight inspectors, 30 officers, 40 rapid action force personnel were deployed along the route to the venue of the meeting that Nadda attended.
Meanwhile, accusing the BJP-led government at the Centre of violating the spirt of federalism, TMC Lok Sabha MP Kalyan Bandopadhyay said at his party’s headquarters that there is no law under which the home ministry can summon DGP and chief secretary.
“Law-and-order is a state subject. We are vehemently opposing this. Nadda was moving around with people having criminal background. Why were there so many cars in the convoy? Vehicles and motorcycles belonging to outsiders cannot be part of a convoy meant for a person having Z-category security,” he said.
Experts, however, said the Centre did have the right to summon state officials under such circumstances. “The TMC is absolutely wrong. It is true that the Centre has no jurisdiction over the law-and-order in a state...but what the ruling party misses is that under Article 355 of the Constitution it is the responsibility of the Centre to look into internal disturbances in a state,” Former principal of Presidency College and an expert on the Constitution, Prof Amal Mukhopadhyay, said.
