State BJP president Dilip Ghosh claimed Wednesday’s 12-hour bandh successful, as he sarcastically ascribed its success to Trinamul Congress before calling off the bandh two hours before it was scheduled to end, his claim was rubished by both CPI-M and Congress leaderships.
Having contended that the people have supported the bandh call, he said at least 10 buses would have been set ablaze had his party wished it and felt the ransacking of some shops to be the handiwork of criminals.
The day is marked by twin triumphs, the state BJP president said. While the Trinamul’s processions have made people aware of the justification of the bandh call, the petitioner of the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking the Calcutta High Court restrain state BJP from going ahead with the bandh did not get the order he had sought for, he said.
The death of two youths in police firing is a pointer to a sorry state of affairs prevailing in the state while chief minster, Mamata Banerjee is away on an overseas jaunt, the BJP leader said. Matters have been made worse by state transport minister, Subhendu Adhikari’s presence in Islampur where he is fomenting trouble, he alleged.
The minister has taken out processions with criminals, the state BJP chief said. As for the vehicles ransacked during the day, it has been done to malign our party, he said.
There is no guarantee that the ransackers were BJP activists, Ghosh said. We are aware that there have been some stray incidents and we will look into the matter to find out if our activists are involved, he added.
The BJP state president alleged that the state govenment had paid a sum of Rs 10 lakh for the stay of some journalists who had accompanied the chief minister to Frankfurt and Milan. This is against the law and demanded a white paper on the issue, he said. Miss Banerjee had called 73 bandhs and not even CPI-M is within hailing distance of this record, the BJP state chief said after his attention was drawn to the chief minister dubbing the bandh a failure. She is not in a position to condemn any ransacking in the backdrop of her party MLAs vandalising the state Assembly, he said.
Denying that BJP activists had forcibly rolled down some of shops’ shutters in central Kolkata during the day, he said that end of the bandh does not indicate an end of proterst against the misdeeds of Trinamul state government. Members of the women wing of the party will demonstrate at Shyambazar five-point crossing on Thursday, he said.
Meanwhile, both CPI(M) and Congress claimed during the day that the 12-hour bandh called by BJP in the state was not successful and people did not also support the strike.
CPI-M leader Mr Rabin Deb told reporters at the party’s headquarters at Alimuddin Street that bandh was not successful though few offices remained closed during the day on Wednesday.
The state government has failed to keep transport movements normal throughout the day like any other days, Deb said.
“Both ruling Trinamul Congress and BJP are creating terror everywhere starting from education to politics,” he said. “Our education minister Partha Chatterjee is threatening schools while the BJP state president Dilip Ghosh is also doing the same to policemen.” Deb said. Both the parties are getting involved by threatening each other since yesterday, he felt.
The common people are being arrested and harassed while protesting against the misrules of the two parties in the state and centre respectively,” Mr Deb alleged.
On the other hand the state Congress president Mr Somen Mitra has also claimed that the BJP-sponsored bandh was anti-people and that is it was a failed programme. Trinamul is indulging in politics of violence and BJP is also towing the same line of action.