By PTI
KOLKATA: Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday invited Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for an interaction during the week to deliberate on “worsening” law and order in the state.
Dhankhar in his letter claimed that the state of governance in the state was “cliff hanging” and had been further strained by the barbarity witnessed in the Birbhum killings.
“Recent alarmingly worrisome developments, reflecting increased lawlessness and violence, make it imperative that you spare time earliest for an interaction at Raj Bhavan,” Dhankhar wrote to Banerjee, a copy of which was attached to his tweet.
The Governor also expressed concern over Banerjee’s recent comment that her party may hit the streets if the CBI probe into the incident was at the behest of BJP, and said any recourse has to be lawful and not on the streets.
“I am concerned at your public statement to ‘hit the streets in protest’ if the CBI probe is not in tune with your thought process, any recourse thereof has to be lawful and not on streets,” he wrote.
The chief minister on Sunday had said her government would cooperate with the CBI probe but the ruling Trinamool Congress would hit the streets if the central agency was found to be acting at the behest of the BJP, Congress or the CPI(M).
“Already cliff hanging governance in the state, from the perspective of Constitution and law, has recently been further strained by horrifying incidents of barbarity at Rampurhat and in the hallowed precincts of the Assembly,” the Governor wrote.
TMC and BJP MLAs were involved in fisticuffs in the Assembly on Monday over the killings at Bogtui village on March 21 in which eight people were burnt alive.
A woman who was admitted to Rampurhat hospital with burns died on Monday, raising the toll to nine.
Activists of the ruling Trinamool Congress and the opposition BJP on Tuesday hit the streets of Kolkata to protest against fuel price hike and the “worsening” law and order situation in the state respectively.
Members of the youth and student wings of the TMC shouted slogans against the central government for the escalation in prices of petrol, diesel and LPG, while the saffron party workers slammed the TMC for the Birbhum carnage in which nine people were burnt to death.
“Soon after Assembly polls were held in five states, the BJP government at the Centre effected rise in fuel prices several times. This has put people under serious stress. Our rally is against this anti-people BJP government at the Centre,” Trinamool Chhatra Parishad state president Trinankur Bhattacharya said.
The rally started at Hazra crossing in Kalighat area of South Kolkata and ended at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the central part of the city.
The rallyists also shouted slogans against the alleged conspiracy by the BJP to stop the “fair and impartial” SIT probe into the death of student leader Anis Khan at Amta in Howrah district.
Khan’s family members alleged that four people had come to their house on the night of February 18 donning police and civic volunteer uniform and pushed him off the second floor of their house leading to his death.
They have demanded a CBI investigation into the matter.
BJP leader Indranil Khan led a rally from the party’s state committee office on Muralidhar Lane to New Market area in central Kolkata.
“The murder of student leader Anis Khan and the burning down of nine people, mostly women and children, have exposed the TMC’s criminal characteristics,” BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar told reporters.
On the night of March 21, eight people were burnt to death after a number of houses in Bogtui village of Birbhum district were set on fire by unknown miscreants, in a suspected fallout of the murder of a local TMC leader.
One injured woman died on Monday, raising the toll to nine.
“Since May 2 last year, 55 of our party functionaries have been killed by Trinamool goons. Our MLAs were beaten up in the Assembly. We have taken out the rally in protest against these violent incidents,” Majumdar said.
Legislators of the TMC and the BJP came to blows inside the Assembly on Tuesday after heated arguments over the Birbhum killings.
The saffron party alleged that the police, at the instruction of the ruling party, did not allow the rallyists to stage protests in New Market area.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Tuesday said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is “scared” of the aftermath of Birbhum violence as people have started raising their voices and that is why the TMC supremo is trying to divert public attention by talking of opposition unity.
Chowdhury, leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, said the Birbhum incident has tarnished the image of the state and people across the country are condemning the West Bengal government.
“She (Mamata) is scared and worried now. Anti-incumbency against her government has started setting in and people have started criticising her government openly and that is why Banerjee is now trying to divert attention by raising the issue of unity among opposition parties,” he told PTI, adding that her statements keep changing and should not be taken seriously.
“Sometimes, she talks of making India ‘Congress-mukt’ and wants non-Congress and non-BJP parties to come together. Sometimes, she criticises the Congress. She seems to be certainly confused,” he said.
Chowdhury, who is also the West Bengal Congress chief and a strong critic of Mamata, said the Centre’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are the same as Bengal’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Special Investigation Team (SIT), as they target political opponents.
“Both are the same and are like brothers and they are playing into the hands of the ruling parties. They are being used against political opponents by the ruling governments,” he alleged.
He said his party has already approached court for a CBI probe into the Birbum violence and the investigation should be monitored by the court, as the Congress has apprehensions over the functioning of CBI.
The WB SIT already stands exposed as the court has found lapses in the SIT functioning, he alleged.
Chowdhury also said that the Birbhum incident is only an internal conflict within the Trinamool Congress and the violence was a result of a factional feud within the party.
“The issue was of who would ‘loot the booty’ and for apportioning of the booty, and was a result of internal conflict which has taken a toll on common people. It is a reflection of medieval barbarity and the dastardly act has certainly tarnished the image of West Bengal in the eyes of the people of India. The entire country has been condemning the state government for the violence,” he said.
Unidentified people had on March 21 set ablaze 10 houses in Birbhum, killing at least eight people, including women and children.
Choudhary’s remarks come as Mamata wrote to all non-BJP chief ministers and opposition parties, including the Congress which her party had been attacking recently, calling on all “progressive forces” to come together and put up a united fight against the “oppressive BJP regime”.
The West Bengal chief minister called for a meeting to discuss strategies to take on the saffron party and also commit to the cause of a unified and principled opposition that will make way for the “government that the country deserves”.
The BJP, however, claimed that the TMC’s national ambitions have fallen flat.
