The Union home ministry on Saturday night sought a report from the Bengal government on the violence at Dhanipara village in Basirhat, North 24 Parganas, in which a Trinamool Congress worker and two local leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party were killed. BJP claimed that three more workers were murdered by “TMC backed goons” and five others had gone missing.
BJP national executive member Mukul Roy informed Union home minister Amit Shah about the violence and gave him a report on Saturday evening.
While chief minister Mamata Banerjee remained silent on the issue till Sunday afternoon, her ministers fumed at the Centre.
State food and supplies minister and TMC’s North 24 Parganas district president Jyoti Priya Mallick described the development as “direct interference by the Union government in the affairs of the state government”.
“Law and order is a State subject according to the Constitution and the Centre cannot interfere in this matter. The Union home minister should remember that he is Home minister of the country and not of the BJP,” Malllick said.
TMC secretary general and education minister Partha Chatterjee alleged that BJP is behaving like the party in power in Bengal. “They might have been able to win some seats because of Left voters but TMC still has a bigger vote share. They have become desperate and hence resorting to violence,” Chatterjee said.
Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi left for Delhi on Sunday morning. He will be meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. The meeting was scheduled quite a while ago, said a Raj Bhawan official.
This is not the first time TMC had a faceoff with the National Democratic Alliance government or the governor on law and order issue in the state.
In March 2018, the Union home ministry sought a report from the state on communal violence at Asansol and Ranigunj in West Burdwan district during Ram Navami festival. Three people were killed in the riots.
In July 2017, Mamata Banerjee openly expressed her ire at governor Keshari Nath Tripathi after communal riots broke out in Baduria and adjacent Basirhat town in North 24 Parganas district. It started after a Class 11 student posted a controversial post on social media. Banerjee took exception to the governor calling her up and enquiring about the steps taken by administration.
“He telephoned me and threatened me. The governor cannot threaten me. He should know that he is a nominated person. I have told him that you cannot talk to me like that,” the chief minister said at that time. Although no one was killed, around 25 people were severely injured and dozens of shops and property were vandalized.
In October 2014, the Union home ministry sought a report on the probe in the blast at Khagragarh on October 2, 2014 in then undivided Burdwan district. The explosion claimed two lives. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) later took over the probe from the state CID and unearthed the involvement of sleeper cells of the banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).
