“Why other opposition parties are silent over violence in West Bengal”: Ravi Shankar Prasad

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], July 12 : With the violence taking centre stage in the West Bengal Panchayat polls, political parties in the state have indulged in a blame game accusing each other of orchestrating the clashes that claimed several lives. 

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday slammed the opposition leaders in West Bengal for being “silent” on violence that took place during recently conducted panchayat polls which claimed at least 10 lives

While talking to ANI, Ravi Shankar Prasad who is chairing the BJP’s fact-finding committee in the wake of the widespread violence during the Panchayat elections in the state.

"Our candidate has run away from the village. Her house has been demolished and Mamata ji says she was born in poverty. I ask why Rahul Gandhi, Sitaram Yechury, Nitish Kumar and other opposition parties are silent? These are opportunistic people,” he added.

On Tuesday, the BJP constituted a four-member fact-finding committee in the wake of the widespread violence during the Panchayat elections in the state.

Later, addressing a press conference, Prasad alleged that CM Mamata has "shamed" democracy.

Taking a jibe at the Bengal CM, Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “Today I would like to remind Mamata Ji about her evolution in Bengal politics. You fought against the ugly and cruel left regime. But what made your politics uglier than that of the left? Why have your politics become full of atrocities? What have you done? The court has to intervene in the election every time. Even the Supreme Court has expressed its anxiety over the Bengal violence”.

“You (Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee) won because the court was strict. We will visit the affected areas. I belong to Bihar, where incidents like these are a matter of the past. Elections are conducted in a peaceful manner in my state. I heard that murder was reported on the counting day as well. You have shamed democracy,” said the BJP MP.

However, hitting back at the BJP leader, Mamata Banerjee said that the fact-finding team led by BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad is BJP's provocation committee.

She further questioned where were these teams and committees when Manipur was “burning” and thousands of people were murdered in Uttar Pradesh in the name of the “encounter”.

“Where was the fact-finding team when Manipur was burning? Where was the team when Assam was burning due to the NRC, thousands of people were murdered in Uttar Pradesh in the name of the encounter; when wrestlers were protesting against sexual harassment; and when protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) happened in Delhi, which led to violent protests and the burning of property. Meanwhile, within 2 years, so many teams and commissions have visited Bengal; close to 154 teams have visited. These are BJP's provocation committees, not fact-finding committees,” the CM said.

Talking about the violence in Bhangar, the CM assured that the guilty would be punished. The CM announced compensation and a government job for the family members of the victim.

“I want to say it is unfortunate so many died. They are victims of circumstances (during WB Panchayat polls). I have told the police to take action. The 19 who have died (family members of the victim) will receive Rs 2 lakh in compensation and a special home guard job. These comprise 10 from TMC. We will not look into their parties,” she said.

The CM said that the Trinamool Congress party will not celebrate Martyr's Day this year in order to pay homage to the victims of panchayat violence.

“We will not celebrate July 21. We will observe it as a solemn occasion to pay homage to the martyrs,” she said.

She went on to say that there were disturbances in 60 booths and questioned why no action was taken against the miscreants even though central forces were deployed there.

The CM went on to question the Congress party leadership as to why she should support the Congress party at the national level in their fight against the BJP when Congress party leaders abuse her in the state.

“Congress in Bengal abuses me and on the national platform, wants my support. How does it work like this?”

Violence broke out in West Bengal ahead of the Gram Panchayat elections which were previously to be held on July 8.

However, the voting day was marred with widespread violence, looting of ballots papers and rigging.

There were reports of booth capturing, damaging of ballot boxes and assault of presiding officers from several districts such as Murshidabad, Cooch Behar, Malda, South 24 Parganas, North Dinajpur and Nadia.

Reports also emerged of ballot boxes being set on fire and clashes between political parties in different locations.

As a result, the State Election Commission announced the re-polling of the Panchayat election on July 10. So, it concluded on Monday and the counting was carried out on Tuesday, July 11.

The Trinamool Congress won 28,985 and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 7,764 seats while Congress has secured 2,022 seats so far. TMC was leading on 1,540 panchayat seats while BJP was leading on 417, according to the State Election Commission (SEC) as of 10.30 pm on Tuesday. West Bengal has 3,341 gram panchayats and the number of village panchayat election centres is 58,594.

There are 63,239 seats at the Gram Panchayat level, 9730 at Panchayat Samiti and 928 at the Zila Parishad level. The counting of votes will be held on July 11.

In 2018, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) won uncontested, 34 per cent of the seats in panchayat elections, which also saw various instances of violence.

The BJP has claimed that at least 45 people have their lives in the violence.

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