Terror angle in Burdwan case must be bared
Trinamool Congress leaders may deny any role in the Burdwan blast but they will remain under a dark cloud of suspicion until investigating agencies officially clear their name. This is partly due to the manner in which the case has been handled by local authorities in West Bengal and partly due to the ruling party's dubious record of dangerous intimacies with Islamists and suspected terror elements. Two facts seem undisputed here: First, the house where the blast happened was a major bomb-assembling unit and a jihadi hub. This is clear from the large amount of explosives, weapons and jihadi literature that has been recovered from the house. Second, the owner of the house is a TMC sympathiser. While this in itself does not implicate the party (or even the owner), it puts both in a tight spot — especially since there is also enough evidence to suggest that the house was being used as a party office. But what really turns the needle of suspicion towards the party, and by extension the Government it leads in West Bengal, is the ostensible efforts by law enforcement officials to cover up the matter. Immediately after the blasts, when the police and the fire brigade came to the house, they were not allowed to enter the premises for an entire hour by two revolver-wielding women (since arrested), even as the perpetrators destroyed incriminating material inside. This reeks of a set-up. The TMC flag was also removed from the house. The State police made no effort to contact the National Investigation Agency, and when the latter got involved, its efforts were stonewalled by the local authorities.
Still, the TMC may demand that it be given the benefit of doubt — but even this is asking for too much, given past allegations about the TMC cosying up to religious extremists so as to secure Bengal's burgeoning Muslim vote-bank. Thursday's ‘accidental' blast, that put jihadis at the TMC’s doorsteps, is only the latest in a series of such disturbing developments. The party is still fire-fighting allegations that its leaders funnelled money from the Saradha chit fund scam to Islamist outfits such as the Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh. That money was reportedly used to fuel a violent campaign against the Bangladeshi Government, which, incidentally, has gone out of its way to clamp down on anti-India elements at home. In fact, last month Dhaka handed over evidence to New Delhi on the insidious role being played by some Indian politicians. The list included Saradha-tainted Trinamool Congress MP Ahmed Hassan Imran, one of the founding members of the Students Islamic Movement of India. Other TMC leaders are also known to be under the scrutiny of the Intelligence Bureau. In 2010, the then Trinamool Congress MP from Basirhat, Haji Nurul Islam, was accused of destroying a temple and leading Muslim mobs against Hindus during the Deganga riots. He was still given a lok Sabha ticket this year. In general, the TMC Government stands accused of blatant Muslim appeasement. So much so that, it is believed to have welcomed jihadis who have been fleeing Bangladesh in recent months, following a crack-down by the Government in Dhaka. Against this backdrop, it comes as no surprise that the bombs being made in Burdwan were reportedly intended for terror attacks in Bangladesh.