Kolkata:
Ruling TMC on Tuesday accused BJP of resorting to the politics of bandh in West Bengal and asserted that the reason for the death of the saffron party worker in Siliguri was not firing by police but from shot gun pellets probably carried by a participant of the BJYM rally on December 7.
The BJP observed a 12-hour shutdown in certain parts of north Bengal on Tuesday over the death of its supporter during the rally.
Senior TMC leader Subrata Mukherjee told a press meet that the police was far away from the location of the rally and the wounds on the BJP worker’s body was caused by firing from close distance.
To buttress his point, Mukherjee quoted from the post mortem report of the dead BJP activist Ulen Roy, who had taken part in the BJYM march in Siliguri.
The wounds, he claimed, were caused by pellets fired from a shot gun which is not used by police. Used for shooting birds, it was probably carried by people in the rally to hurt the police.
“The post mortem exposes BJP’s gameplan of causing large scale disturbances and provoke the police to open fire,” Mukherjee, also senior minister in Mamata Banerjee cabinet said.
Claiming that the police “kept it’s cool despite great provocation by the rallyists”, he said “The police used the baton and tear gas as last resort.
Police had fired teargas shells and used water cannons on Monday to quell a violent protest called by the Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) against the Mamata Banerjee government during which a BJP worker died. Several protesters and police personnel were injured in the clashes.
The BJP had alleged that a party worker identified as Ullen Ray was “beaten to death” by the police during a baton charge and demanded imposition of President’s Rule in West Bengal in view of the “breakdown of law and order”. However, police claimed there was no lathicharge.
Mukherjee said “BJP has turned mad in the pursuit of power. They are resorting to falsehood just for the sake of power. But the people of Bengal will vote to power the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress for the third term.”
“BJP is trying to foment trouble in Siliguri and other places in north Bengal today in the name of strike,” he said.
On the issue of Bharat Bandh called by farmers bodies and supported by almost all opposition parties, Mukherjee said “Though TMC is against any strike we support it this time due to the cause and factors which necessitated this shutdown call.”
“TMC believes not only a movement of farmers, the strike is all about bread and butter issue of ordinary farmers and the common man. We are also protesting by coming out in the street by holding sit-ins,” he said.
“We are holding protests in 344 blocks for three days from today and near Gandhi statue in the city. Our MPs had protested in both houses of Parliament as the three farm bill’s were passed by the Centre. Our MP (Derek O’Brien) had also expressed solidarity by visiting the agitating farmers near the Delhi border,” he said.
To a question, Mukherjee without naming BJP said, “We had all along known politics is done by the son of the soil.
Now we witness people from outside the state are being brought for political activities.
