In an interesting development, the West Bengal BJP is forming special teams in the districts to assist the victims of post poll violence. The CBI investigating the violence is interacting with the families of the victims and recording their statements and these teams will assist the victims and provide them legal and other assistance so that they and their family members can speak to the investigating agency properly.
The BJP will form committees in all the districts and these committees will comprise a professional advocate to ensure that the victims of violence or their family members are able to interact with CBI officials without hurdles and record their complaints.
The BJP said that each committee will have five members. The district president and three prominent members of the district committee will be there in the said special committee. The fifth member will be a professional advocate. Party sources further said that following a series of attacks during the post-poll violence, the morale of the common BJP workers is totally down. So, this is an attempt to boost their falling morale.
“In most of the cases the victims are illiterate and poor and they don’t have any idea about the legal aspects. They did not even face any investigating agency before and naturally it will not be easy for them to face an agency like the CBI. To facilitate the process so that they can speak to the agency in a proper way our team will assist them in every possible way,” a senior BJP leader told IANS on condition of anonymity.
When asked whether it would be legally correct to assist the victims, the leader said, “We will not be present when the CBI officers will visit them. How can it be incorrect to help someone in need? They are our party members and it is our moral and ethical responsibility to be on their side”.
The ruling TMC has already opposed the move, claiming partisan approach in a court-directed inquiry. They also alleged that this is a direct attempt to influence investigating CBI sleuths. “This is quite natural for BJP. However, they might try all kinds of conspiracies but nothing will work. People of West Bengal, who want development, will reject them. And the truth is that most of the people who were killed in post-poll violence were associated with the Trinamool Congress. However, CBI sleuths have not visited their residences,” a Trinamool Congress leader said.