Political violence continued unabated in Bengal with at least five people, two each from the BJP and Trinamool Congress and one from the CPI(M), getting killed in inter-party clashes in the past 48 hours sources said.
The bloodiest clash took place at Najat village in Sandeshkhali block near Basirhat where two BJP supporters and a TMC worker were shot dead on Saturday evening following a showdown over fixing of party banners, police said.
However, eye-witnesses said that clashes broke out after trucks load of people led by Sk Sahajan Mollah a local TMC tough raided Najat village. “They just came in started attacking the locals because we had voted for the BJP in the elections. When the BJP workers tried to they were chased, shot, bombed and stabbed,” an old man said.
Two BJP workers succumbed to their injuries immediately while Kayum Mollah a TMC worker died also of bullet injuries, police said. Subsequently State BJP president Dilip Ghosh said three-four other BJP workers were missing fearing “they might have been killed and their bodies disposed off by the Trinamool goons.”
The BJP claimed that the names of the slain workers were Pradip Mondal, Tapan Mondal and Sukanta Mondal. A fourth party man Debabrata Mondal was also missing. The body of Shankar Mondal and Tapan Mondal were found on Sunday.
The Twitter handle of the BJP’s state unit said that at least six of their members had been killed in the attack. Senior party leader Mukul Roy said “We will be reaching Union Home Minister Amit Shah to apprise him of the Sandeshkhali killings.”
Subsequently on Sunday late noon a high-pitched drama ensued on Kolkata-Basirhat-Basanti highway when the police stopped the BJP leadership from bringing the corpses of the dead party men to the State party headquarters in Kolkata.
Tension ran high with a large posse of police men blockading the hearse carrying the dead BJP workers led by senior leaders like State party president Dilip Ghosh, Rahul Sinha, Locket Chatterjee.
“We were bringing the bodies to Kolkata to pay homage at the State party headquarters after which the family members of the deceased wanted the funeral to take place at the Nimtalla funeral ground. But the police stopped us from doing so because Mamata Banerjee has directed them to do so.
“In her State people have no right to live and no right to be cremated according to their own desire,” Rahul Sinha said. The BJP has called a 12-hour Basirhat bandh on Monday which will also be observed as a “black day,” he said.
In another such incident a TMC worker Sk Mofizul was gunned down near Arambagh in Hooghly district sources said. The local TMC MP Aparupa Poddar said Mofizul was shot dead by BJP goons while the saffron outfit said the death was a result of intra-group fighting within the TMC. The incident took place on Saturday.
In a third incident a CPI(M) worker was stabbed to death by alleged TMC men at Mathurapur village in South 24 Parganas. The incident took place late on Friday night. CPI(M) leader and former Minister Kanti Ganguli said the party worker was killed because he had not only refused to join the TMC but also resisted Trinamool workers in his booth area from rigging the elections.