"Conspiracy of Opposition," says Kunal Ghosh after SC rejects plea on CAPF deployment

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], June 20 : After Supreme Court refused to interfere with the Calcutta High Court's order regarding the deployment of central forces in West Bengal for the upcoming panchayat elections, All India Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh on Tuesday said that forcing the state to deploy central forces is a "conspiracy of the Opposition".

"Central force is not at all our headache. We are ready to face them. Only in West Bengal, there can't be a central force. This is the conspiracy of the Opposition. Out of 61,000 odd confident that with our developmental public schemes booths, there is trouble only in 4-5 booths, that too created by the Opposition. But we are, the people of West Bengal will vote in favour of TMC," Kunal Ghosh said while talking to ANI.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to interfere with the Calcutta High Court's order regarding the deployment of central forces in West Bengal for the upcoming panchayat elections and dismissed the plea challenging it.

A vacation bench comprising Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Manoj Misra rejected the plea filed by the West Bengal State Election Commission and WB State.

"We find that the order of the HC does not call for any interference. The petition stands dismissed," the top court said.

During the hearing, the court remarked that holding elections cannot be a licence for violence.

The top court remarked that elections cannot be accompanied by violence, as it questioned, Where is the free and fair election? if people are not able to file their nominations or are finished off while they are going to file nominations.

The court also observed that what the HC may have thought is that instead of requisitioning forces from other neighbouring states, it is better to deploy central forces, and expenses would be borne by the Centre.

A lawyer appearing for the West Bengal government apprised the court about the ground situation in the state and said that if required, they may deploy forces from neighbouring states.

He apprised the court that this deployment is for every district, whether sensitive or not, as if the state is not equipped to handle this.

A senior advocate appearing for WB state also informed the SC that the last time the CRPF officers were deployed, they opened fire and people died.

Ahead of the Panchayat elections, scheduled to be held on July 8, the state witnessed continuous clashes in various parts of the state, including an outbreak of violence at the Block Development Office in Birbhum's Ahmadpur, where crude bombs were reportedly thrown. Also, a TMC worker was beaten to death in the Malda district.

The election will be held in a single phase on July 8, with vote counting scheduled for July 11. Panchayat polls in West Bengal will witness a fierce contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the ruling Trinamool Congress as they will be seen as a litmus test ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

However, speaking about the decision of Governor CV Ananda Bose to the state's foundation day at Raj Bhavan on Tuesday which any state government representatives did not attend, TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said that the Governor is "distorting" the history.

"The Governor is distorting history. He is insulting the history, heritage and culture of Bengal. There is nothing identified as 'West Bengal divas'...CV Ananda Bose has no moral right to continue as Governor of West Bengal after these kinds of activities. He is distorting history and insulting West Bengal. CM has already written to him but he didn't respond and is trying to damage the image of Bengal," Ghosh added.

In a letter to Governor Bose, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed "shock" at his "unilateral" decision to commemorate the state's foundation day asserting that it "was not founded on any particular day, least of all on any 20th of June."

Mamata Banerjee said that West Bengal was "carved out of the undivided State of Bengal in 1947 through a most painful and traumatic process. The process involved uprooting millions of people across the border and the death and displacement of innumerable families."

"Since Independence, we in West Bengal have never rejoiced over, or commemorated, or celebrated, any day as the Foundation Day of West Bengal. Rather, we have seen the Partition as a result of unleashing of communal forces that could not be resisted at that point of time," she said.

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