West Bengal BJP MPs on Wednesday called on the Center to use constitutional provisions to intervene in the state, alleging in the Lok Sabha that the deaths of eight people after setting fire to their homes in Birbhum district showed that law and order had been broken under the rule. Trinamool Congress. As the Zero Hour began, several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs displayed placards and chanted slogans against the West Bengal government led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Later, BJP’s state branch chief Sukant Majumder spoke on the issue. Denying the allegations, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Sudip Banerjee said that what happened in Birbhum had nothing to do with any political battle and noted that state police had arrested about 20 people involved in the incident.
He asked the BJP not to politicize the incident and said his party had sought an appointment with Union Home Minister Amit Shah over the issue. On Tuesday, Shad met a delegation of BJP MPs from the state. Majumdar said the deaths of so many people in retaliation for the killing of a TMC panchayat leader had “disgraced humanity” and quoted locals as saying that the houses of the victims had been set on fire in the presence of police personnel.
In West Bengal, 26 people have died in a week because law and order has broken in the state, he said. Political violence in the state also erupted after the TMC’s victory in the May 2021 assembly elections, the BJP leader alleged, urging the Center to intervene.
He noted that those killed in the blaze were all members of the minority (Muslim) community. “We want the central government to intervene in the state of West Bengal to stop state-sponsored terrorism,” read a placard raised by a BJP MP in the House.
BJP MP Dilip Ghosh also taunted the West Bengal government. He told reporters that even Muslims, who are seen as reliable supporters of the TMC, are not safe in the state because thugs affiliated with the ruling party target people indiscriminately. Twenty-two people have so far been arrested in connection with the violence in Birbhum, which has left eight dead, a senior police officer said on Wednesday.
Family members of TMC panchayat leader Vadu Sheikh, who is suspected to have died, have claimed that Sheikh’s sons were among those arrested. . However, the police have not been able to reveal the names of those arrested yet.
Eight people, including two children, were killed when a dozen houses were set on fire by petrol bombs in Bagatui on Tuesday morning.
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