BJP workers and the police clashed in Bengal’s Siliguri on Monday afternoon.
Siliguri, Bengal:
Violence erupted in Siliguri, North Bengal, on Monday afternoon after BJP workers protesting the “misrule” of the Trinamool Congress clashed with police outside the secretariat complex.
Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh claimed that a party worker, Ulen Roy, 50, from Jalpaiguri district, was killed in a shooting and asked for a 12-hour period. Bandh tomorrow in North Bengal. Police said one person was reported dead, but added that they did not open fire.
The body is being sent for an autopsy.
Mr. Ghosh claimed that Ulen Roy was perhaps the victim of a “Nandigram-style operation”, in which the alleged killers took refuge behind the police when they opened fire. Tejasvi Surya, the passionate MP from Karnataka who flew in for today’s march, alleged: “Trinamool thugs protected by the police dropped bombs.”
Images from the scene looked like a war zone, with plumes of smoke rising into the air as protesters set fire to police barricades (made of bamboo) and rubber tires. Police in riot gear initially deployed water cannons to push back protesters and then fired tear gas projectiles.
Police also said the protesters resorted to arson and brick batting, and opened fire.
Top BJP leaders met with Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar in Kolkata tonight to discuss the incident.
Meanwhile, Trinamool MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar lashed out at the BJP for “sacrificing the life of a party worker for publicity.” “Every loss of life is sad,” said Ghosh Dastidar, accusing the BJP of “gun and thug policy.”
“We are protesting peacefully. We are not scared by guns, lathis or bombs. We are ready to die to protect Bengal,” said BJP Secretary General Kailash Vijayvargiya, who led one of today’s marches, declaring that it was time to the rule of the president in Bengal.
Bengala BJP then tweeted a 15-second video of the body of a man, allegedly Ulen Roy, lying in what appears to be a hospital bed. While the video is playing, the pink sheet covering the body is pulled down to the waist to reveal what, according to Mr. Ghosh, were “shot wounds”.
Mamata Banerjee, who today held a rally in the West Midnapur district in support of farmers protesting the new farm laws in the center, has yet to respond. At the rally, he criticized the BJP as a party of “outsiders” and urged people to prevent them from taking control of Bengal.
The violence in Siliguri comes with only months to go until the Assembly elections, in which the BJP has made no secret of its plan to remove Ms. Banerjee and Trinamool from power.
With that goal in mind, North Bengal is fertile ground. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP made significant progress, won seven out of eight seats, and will expect a similar result in state polls.
The region has 54 seats in the Assembly and the Trinamool is not well established there. Last month, senior MLA Mihir Goswami resigned and joined the BJP.
With input from PTI
.
