The political violence by Mamata Banerjee’s goons in West Bengal has crossed all the levels. On September 13, 2020, a body of another BJP worker was found hanging on a tree in Goghat in Hoogly district of the State. Over the last few years, bodies of several BJP workers have been found hanging in different parts of the State
Ganesh Roy, a BJP worker, was found hanging from a
tree near his village in Khanati in the Goghat area, Hooghly
tree near his village in Khanati in the Goghat area, Hooghly
Ganesh Roy was a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activist from Khanati village in the Goghat area of Hooghly district in West Bengal. He was missing from September 12 evening, and on September 13, his body was discovered hanging from a tree near his village. The police said that the circumstances behind his death were being investigated.
The BJP alleged that Trinamool Congress (TMC) goons murdered him. Dilip Ghosh, BJP President for the State of West Bengal, claimed that Ganesh Roy was murdered by the TMC after which his body was hanged from the tree. This was done, Ghosh claimed, to create a visual impact of the consequences one might encounter if he chose to become a BJP worker. It has become a new, politically violent trend to hang BJP workers to death. Dilip Ghosh also said the party would organise a tough resistance to the terror unleashed on BJP workers and that the TMC, panicked due to the growing support BJP has gathered in recent times, has resorted to such violent measures.
The TMC has strongly denied its involvement in the death of Ganesh Roy. The incident has been tried to be portrayed as suicide.
Locket Chatterjee, BJP MP from Hooghly, protested strongly against such ghastly action taken by the TMC against BJP workers in the State. Questioning the self-proclaimed ‘champions of democracy’ (TMC), Locket asked why the TMC was silent on the killing of the BJP workers in West Bengal.
Incidentally, one may be reminded that a BJP booth president’s body was similarly found hanging in Haldia in East Midnapore district. The body of Debendra Nath Ray, BJP leader and MLA from Hemtabad, was also found hanging near his home in North Dinajpur district.
Over the last few years, bodies of several BJP workers have been found hanging across the State. Although the ruling TMC has tried to pose all of them as incidents of suicide, they appear to be “cold-blooded murder” to silence the rising voice of BJP in West Bengal.
On September 7, in another gruesome incident, a group of armed men attacked the house of BJP worker Arun Naskar, a resident of Raghudebpur village under Bishnupur police station in the southern suburbs of the city.
The band had come looking for Arun Naskar at home during the day of lockdown in Bengal. Arun was not at home. His wife, Radharani Naskar, was at home. The men initially beat her up. One of them hit her on the head with the butt of a pistol. Radharani somehow managed to escape and went inside the house. The miscreants followed her inside. Radharani then tried to chase them away with a broom at which one of the men opened fire. A bullet hit Radharani on her head.
The seriously injured woman was first rushed to a local health centre and later shifted to SSKM Hospital in Kolkata. She was operated in the afternoon but her condition continues to be critical.
Arun Naskar has complained against the local Trinamool MLA in this context. According to Arun, “The armed goons of the TMC MLA Dilip Mandal have organised this attack on my wife because I happen to be a BJP supporter.” Local BJP leader, Abhijit Das, has expressed his concern that there is a well thought out plan of TMC to kill BJP activists. BJP workers are threatened with death, and TMC has successfully created an environment of terror with bands of miscreants. He alleged that the present State Government has adopted the policy of violence to destroy the opposition. They have created an environment of fear and violence in society.
The TMC MLA, Dilip Mandal, however, refuted the allegations. He tried to present the incident as a matter of dispute between people of two adjacent neighbourhoods. He further alleged that BJP activists are inciting violence in different places in an attempt to prove lawlessness in the State. This, according to him, is a strategy of BJP to malign the ruling party.
BJP’s state president Dilip Ghosh accused workers of the Mamata Banerjee-led party of leaving Roy’s body hanging to create panic in the area. “It has become a new trend to hang to death BJP workers,” he said. “We will launch a strong resistance. TMC is scared of the growing support for the BJP”
In yet another shocking incident of political violence in West Bengal, a BJP worker was lynched to death in the Pathar Ghata village in Kalna sector of the State.
According to the family members of the victim, named Rabin Paul, a group of 50 people belonging to the TMC lynched Paul to death. There was an altercation between the MNREGA workers and Rabin Paul after they chopped trees outside his house. This has allegedly provoked the TMC goons that led to the murder.
According to eyewitnesses, Paul was brutally beaten by the TMC goons and then taken to another place in the village where the Kalna TMC Deputy Chief thrashed paul.
Later, the police took Paul to the Kalna district hospital, but he succumbed to injuries. Naming TMC in his dying testimony, Rabin Paul said, “They assaulted me in large numbers. Those who were doing the 100-day work (referring to MNREGA). They are party workers.. TMC workers).” The family members have filed a complaint at the local police station.
(With Inputs from Suman Bhattacharya)
