Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah on Saturday criticised West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after the body of a 30-year-old man was found hanging from a high-tension electric tower in Purulia district. He accused the Trinamool Congress government in the state of failing to maintain law and order.
The BJP has claimed that Dulal Kumar was a party worker and that he had actively worked in the recent panchayat elections. The victim’s brother said that on May 30, bike-borne men had stopped Dulal Kumar and asked him which party he worked for. “When he said BJP, they threatened to kill him,” Kumar’s brother told ANI.
This is the second such incident in Purulia in three days. On Thursday, a BJP worker in Balarampur in West Bengal’s Purulia district was found hanging from a tree.
Shah said he was distressed to know about yet another killing of a BJP worker. “This continued brutality and violence in the land of West Bengal is shameful and inhuman,” he said on Twitter. “Mamata Banerjee’s government has completely failed to maintain law and order in the state.”
Union minister Smriti Irani accused the ruling party of indulging in “targeted killings” of BJP workers. “I want to point out to those who are silent on the issue that not only is democracy being throttled but they are indulging in targeted killings of BJP workers,” Irani said to the reporters, according to PTI. “The ruling party in West Bengal is part of a consolidated opposition which is fighting against Narendra Modi. So the consolidated opposition is indulging in targeted killings of BJP workers.”
She also accused the state government of failing to maintain law and order and failing to deliver justice to the families of the victims. “This is not an issue of concern only for BJP workers but the entire nation.”
BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain said Banerjee should not stay in power in West Bengal after the incidents. “This isn’t Trinamool Congress Party, but Taliban Congress Party,” Hussain told ANI. “Trinamool Congress is propagating terrorism. If Trinamool Congress wants to fight, they must do so ideologically.”
TMC leader Derek O’Brien on Saturday demanded a thorough investigation. “We strongly condemn this despicable killing,” he said. “All angles must be probed. The perpetrators of this heinous act must be punished. What role did Jharkhand border have to play? What elements of Bajrang Dal, Maoist or BJP involved. Let the truth be found out through proper investigation.”
The investigation into Kumar’s was handed over to the Crime Investigation Department, ANI reported. Purulia Superintendent of Police Joy Biswas said the body has been sent for postmortem. “The preliminary investigation in the first incident [May 30] suggests that it maybe a case of personal enmity, while the second incident seems to be a case of suicide,” Biswas told ANI.
However, Biswas was later on Saturday transferred and Akash Magharia took charge as Purulia superintendent of police.
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