The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
As Trinamool workers target its offices, BJP demands President’s Rule in Bengal
Party delegation meets Governor Tripathi, demands his intervention
WEST BENGAL BJP president Dilip Ghosh has asked Governor K N Tripathi to put the state under President’s Rule following a spate of attacks on BJP offices and workers allegedly by men linked to the Trinamool Congress.
Ghosh said a party delegation metthegovernoranddemanded hisintervention.initsrepresentation to the Governor, the state BJP said: “...with the authority vested in you vide Article 356 (1A) to reviewthesituationwherethestate government is unable to enforce or to carry out their responsibility in accordance with provisions of the Constitution. Hence, we request your immediate and determinedinterventioninthismatter.”
Thedelegationtoldthegovernorthat“therehasbeenarsonand attacks carried out by the ruling party goons in different parts of West Bengal with BJP as the main target”, adding that “there has been a breakdown of the law and order situation in the state, especially in view of the hooliganism and violent acts of TMC goons”.
BJP’S letter also alleged that TMC Minister for Health Shashi Panja and TMC councillor Shantanu Sen were present at the BJP headquarters during the attack allegedly by TMC men.
The attacks aimed at the BJP began Tuesday with the arrest of TMC MP Sudip Bandopadhyay by the CBI. On Wednesday, they spread across the state. In Dum Dum in Kolkata, three BJP offices were set on fire. In Digha, shops owned by BJP workers and sympathisers were torched.
While BJP hoardings were pulled down and burnt in Rajabajar area, a BJP office in Durgapurwasransacked.also,bjp MP Babul Supriyo’s home, where his parents live, was gheraoed by TMC workers raising slogans.
Statebjpvice-presidentkrishnabhattacharyawasattackedand herhousevandalisedinhooghly’s Uttarpara. Bhattacharya has now been admitted to the ICU at Kamala hospital in Konnagar where she is under observation.
Her brother, Amaresh Bhattacharya, who lives in the same house, said that TMC’S “bike vahini” came to their home within 15 minutesofkrishnabhattacharya’s return from a party meeting.
“There were some 20 of them. Ihadjustreturnedfromwork...my daughter-in-lawwasalsoathome. Thesemenjustenteredourhouse and held my sister at gunpoint, while they beat her mercilessly and tore her clothes... Before they left,theylobbedacrudebombinto thehouse,’’hesaid,addingthatpolice only arrived at the scene 45 minutes after the incident.
Ontuesday,tmcworkershad gheraoed BJP headquarters on Centralavenueinkolkataat5pm. Seniorbjpleaderslikerahulsinha and Locket Chatterjee, who were present at the time of the attack, were stuck inside for hours.
BJP leader and former youth wing president Amitava Ray said: “Suddenly we were surrounded by the TMC mob which started pelting stones and manhandling theworkers.imyselfsustainedinjuriesandwashitontheheadwith bricks... Police were present but they just stood there doing nothing... they told us if they do anythingtohelpusthentheirfamilies wouldbeattackedbytmcgoons.” Ray is now under observation at a hospital.hesaidtmcworkersalso lobbed plastic bottles filled with petrol inside the BJP office.
Kolkatapolice,meanwhile,has registeredacaseagainstunknown persons in connection with Tuesday’s violence. On Tuesday night, Sudip Bandyopadhyay’s wife, Nayana, filed an FIR against thecbioverhisarrestallegingthat the agency had not informed any familymemberofwhereherhusband would be taken.