‘Lawlessness in Bengal’: Guv visits violence victims in Assam camps There is fear among SC community members, says rights panel chief
KOLKATA/GUWAHATI: West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday said the fear he saw in the eyes of people who allegedly fled from north Bengal and took shelter in Assam to escape postpoll violence could not be described in words.
“These people are so terrified that they told me they might be attacked again because I met them. I cannot imagine they are living in such fear. They are facing political vendetta because they opposed the ruling party (in Bengal). I am alerting the government through the media. I will interact with the chief minister,” Dhankhar said in Siliguri after returning from Assam.
“There is lawlessness in Bengal,” he said.
The governor was scheduled to fly to Assam in a Border Security Force (BSF) helicopter but the flight had to be cancelled because of bad weather. Dhankhar took a road trip. He was accompanied by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Cooch Behar Lok Sabha member Nisith Pramanik.
Dhankhar visited Assam’s Dhubri district and interacted with Bengal residents who fled their homes following post-poll violence allegedly perpetrated by Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers. He met inmates of a relief camp in the Ranpagli area and expressed shock and grief at their plight. He assured that efforts would be made so that they could return to their homes soon.
“The governor interacted with the affected people for nearly an hour and inquired about their condition. At present, we have 176 persons at Ranpagli and nearly 30 more at another camp in the district. While some have returned to Bengal, these people are afraid to go back as their houses had been allegedly burnt. We are providing them food and other basic necessities. They can stay in Assam as long as they desire. If they wish to go back we will facilitate their return,” said Dhubri superintendent of police Anand Mishra.
“The state government must uphold the Constitution. These people must be protected and brought back,” Dhankhar said after returning to Siliguri. He also blamed a section of the media, saying that journalists did not report the plight of people. “I will visit all violence-hit districts of Bengal,” he said.
Reacting to this, Bengal panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee said, “He is the only governor who does not adhere to any article of the Constitution. People died on both sides but he is meeting only BJP supporters. He is taking with him BJP MPS and MLAS. Why doesn’t he just join the BJP?”
Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha member Sukhendu Sekhar Roy demanded Dhankhar’s removal.
Bengal BJP’S chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya defended the governor. “He is being targeted everyday by TMC leaders. This is not a healthy trend for a democracy,” said Bhattacharya.
On Thursday, Dhankhar faced a demonstration by a handful of TMC workers at Dinhata in north Bengal’s Cooch Behar district which he visited to meet alleged victims of postpoll violence despite a strong advisory from chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
The two exchanged strongly worded letters on Wednesday evening. While Banerjee accused Dhankhar of violating protocols by planning to visit Cooch Behar without the state’s sanction, the latter accused Banerjee of showing no regard for the Constitution.
North Bengal happens to be a BJP stronghold although it bagged only 77 assembly seats against the TMC’S 213 in the recent polls.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the saffron camp bagged seven of the north Bengal region’s eight seats. In the assembly polls, the BJP won 30 of the region’s 54 seats.
KOLKATA: The chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Caste (NCSC), Vijay Sampla, who toured Bengal for two days to look into allegations of political attacks on members of the SC community after the assembly polls, said on Friday that those he met were living in fear.
“The experience these people shared with me are similar to the ones we heard from our elders who witnessed the carnage in 1947. There is fear among members of the SC community because police helped the miscreants. The administration is inactive,” Sampla told reporters.
His statement came hours after Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar went to Dhubri district in Assam and said the fear he saw in the eyes of people who allegedly fled from north Bengal to escape post-poll violence could not be described in words.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has complained that its supporters were targeted by workers of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) after the latter swept the assembly elections in the state. The BJP and the TMC fought a bitter battle which the former expected to win, but eventually the latter won 213 of the 292 assembly seats in the state. While the TMC has denied the charges, leaders of the Left Front have said their workers are also being targeted after the poll results were announced on May 2.
The ministry of home affairs was quick to take cognisance; and several commissions and bodies, including the National Commission for Women and the
National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, have also written to state authorities.
Helpless Dalit families have left their homes at two villages in East Burdwan and South 24 Parganas districts that he visited, Sampla claimed in Kolkata.
A five-member team of the commission visited East Burdwan on Thursday. It was accompanied by the district magistrate and superintendent of police.
“Houses were attacked in Burdwan town as well. People left their homes in panic,” Sampla said.
He alleged that the state police did not follow provisions in the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act which says a first information report (FIR) must be drawn and arrests made when a complaint is received. The affected Dalit families did not receive compensation and list of the victims had not been prepared by the administration, Sampla added. “We have asked the state government to dismiss these police officers and take legal action,” he said.
The NCSC team, however, did not visit the family of Trinamool Congress (TMC) worker Bibhas Bag who was also killed in the clashes at Nabagram, reported news agency PTI.
When asked about this, Sampla said the commission was only visiting those from whom complaints were received.
Senior TMC legislator Tapas Roy said, “The BJP is trying its best to malign Bengal. It did the same thing before the polls. It only shows how vindictive they are towards the people of Bengal and the elected government. These tactics will not work.”