Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday came down heavily on the BJP for “manufacturing” dead bodies to win elections. Her immediate point of reference was the death of a BJP worker who on Monday died of injuries suffered during a saffron rally in Siliguri.
“The BJP is a party that spreads rumors like a storm,” Banerjee said referring to the “unfortunate death” of the BJP worker. Refuting BJP’s allegations that the victim Ulen Roy died in police firing Banerjee referring to the postmortem report said “the police never uses pellet guns and the victim died of pellet injuries which means that there were criminals in the BJP rally.”
Banerjee alleged “it is the BJP’s habit to infest its ranks with miscreants” as it happened on Monday. “The victim died when these miscreants opened fire …” Banerjee told a meeting at Raiganj adding the BJP killed its own workers to gain sympathy and “just for publicity and propaganda.”
Claiming that her party Trinamool Congress “never kicks up storm of rumors,” Banerjee said “we kick up storms of development unlike the BJP which fans storm of riots, arson, disinformation and false propaganda.”
The Chief Minister’s claims were countered by a petition being filed at the court of Jalpaiguri Chief Judicial Magistrate for conducting a re-postmortem.
“We cannot understand the urgency of the police to conduct a postmortem during the dead of night which they did… we want a video graphed re-postmortem conducted by at least three doctors,” the North Bengal BJP leadership said.
Banerjee’s hard-hitting words came against the back drop of a police report which on Tuesday’s morning said that the 50-year-old victim who died in the Monday’s pitched battle between the BJP workers and the police was killed with a shotgun that local law enforcement agencies did not use.
Referring to the postmortem reports that Bengal Police tweeted, “as per the PM (post mortem examination) report death was due to the effects of shotgun injuries… Police do not use shotguns. It’s obvious that during yesterday’s protest in Siliguri, armed persons were brought and they fired from firearms,”
The State police said that the victim “received pellet injuries from a shotgun fired from close range by a person standing near the deceased in the protest program. This is unprecedented. Bringing armed persons in protest programs and inciting them to fire is unheard off.”
Confirming that the case had been transferred to the CID, State Police said “there was a malafide intention to create violence by the use of firearms. CID West Bengal has been asked to investigate. Truth will come out and strong action will be taken against all those who planned and executed the heinous crime.”
Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh immediately hit back calling it a “foolish remark” that workers of the same party would kill their own colleagues. “Such comments can come from the Chief Minister only,” he said adding how “about 10 more people are lying in the hospital bed with similar injuries … It is a confirmed report that Ulen Roy and these other injured people were in the fore front of the rally and the local witnesses are saying that the police invited them to break the barricades after which bullets were fired at them.”
Monday’s rally witnessed large-scale violence in Siliguri with the police firing tear gas shells and lathi-charging the protesters even as they marched towards Uttar Kanya the second Secretariat of the State.
“It seems like the Trinamool Congress goons had infiltrated the police ranks and fired at our workers,” Ghosh and other BJP workers like Samik Bhattacharya said adding how the Bengal Police was in a habit of committing the same misconduct everywhere.
“Now it is the responsibility of the police to find out the real culprits,” he said even as State party vice president Jaya Prakash Majumdar demanded a CBI investigation into the
matter.
Referring to the demand for a re-postmortem the North Bengal Medical College doctor PK Deb said the postmortem had indeed been video graphed and was conducted by three doctors adding “if the court orders a re-postmortem to be done then we have no problem doing it.”
Meanwhile, there was backlash of Monday’s skirmish with the BJP called North Bengal bandh getting a mixed response in the zone amidst clashes between saffron workers and TMC men.
The BJP men staged protest marches at different towns in the region organising roadblocks being at Coochbehar, Mathabhanga and Malda affecting traffic movement.
Markets and shops remained partially open while private buses and other modes of road transport were fewer in number than usual.
However, government buses were available. This, while tension ran high at Mahatma Gandhi crossing where Chief Minister’s posters were allegedly torn up following a clash between TMC and BJP workers.