The Signs of Violence are still Green in West Bengal
No matter how much the ruling Trinamool Congress and its Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal claim that all is well, the ground picture is different in the state, especially in rural areas. Both incidents are the biggest proof of this.
“Only after the election results were out on May 2, TMC workers started atrocities on us. In many houses of BJP supporters in the village, they fiercely beat and looted. Most of the BJP supporters left the village fearing terror.
The police complaint also did not have any effect. Finally, we have rejoined TMC after apologizing. Otherwise, our return home would not have been possible.”
This is to say Suprakash Mandal (name changed) living in a village in the Nanur area of Birbhum district. Mandal has recently returned from the BJP to the TMC along with about 67 families from the village. Some of these people had even publicly apologized through loudspeakers on the road.
The case of Bappa Kar of Dhaniyakhali in the Hooghly district is also similar. His mobile shop was closed on May 2. Now after publicly apologizing, the local leaders of TMC have forgiven him and allowed him to open the shop.
However, Bappa claims that he himself had closed his shop. But they have no answer to the question as to how the shop opened the very next day after apologizing to the TMC for its mistakes. Obviously, they do not want to hate the crocodile by staying in the water.
No matter how much the ruling Trinamool Congress and its Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal claim that all is well, the ground picture is different in the state, especially in rural areas.
These two incidents mentioned above are the biggest proof of this.
The BJP is indeed tossing these matters with chilli and spices. BJP state president Dilip Ghosh claims that even now more than a thousand party supporters are leaving their homes and living in other places and so far 37 people have been murdered.
Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari also makes the same allegation. He also met Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar at Raj Bhavan on Monday on the issue.
After that, the Governor put the government in the dock on the issue of law and order and said that democracy is not breathing in the state. The Chief Minister and the administration remain mute spectators.
In fact, it is not easy to guess the ground situation from the way the violence spread in the state after the results of the assembly elections and different claims made by TMC and BJP on it.
The violence happened, that’s clear. But at the same time it is also true that on the lines of his buffalo, both the parties did not lag.
However, the BJP has called it an act of self-defence. Apart from this, work was also done to add fuel to this fire of violence through fake videos and pictures.
For example, two BJP workers were accused of gang rape in Birbhum. But the very next day the police and those two women also denied it.
Apart from this, a journalist from Delhi was described as a BJP worker dead in the violence in Cooch Behar district. The young man immediately denied this.
Now in the latest case, two women from Bengal have taken refuge in the Supreme Court accusing TMC workers of gang rape.
Earlier last month too, the families of two BJP workers who died in the violence had filed a petition in the Supreme Court.
It was said that there has been a large-scale displacement of people due to the violence. But the state government in its affidavit has termed these allegations as baseless and termed the said petition as politically motivated.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claims that the sporadic incidents of violence that took place in the state last month have been curbed. The government has no information about the displacement of people.
Even after a month and a half after the election results, allegations and counter-allegations continue between the two political parties on the issue of violence. Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar is playing the most powerful role in this.
They do not desist from slamming the government, police and administration on this issue every day without being naga.
Political observers say that the BJP, which entered the fray with the slogan ‘Ab ki Baar Do Sau Paar’, now wants to keep the issue of violence alive and use it as a weapon against the TMC.
Samiran Pal, an observer, says, “It is true that there has been violence. But it is also not what the BJP is claiming. As far as rural areas are concerned, there is a long history of political violence.
Apart from the Congress, there has been violence during the rule of the Left and now the tenure of TMC is no exception.