Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Saumitra Khan has made a unique claim that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) is using 20 rupees pouch of country-made liquor to murder rival party workers in West Bengal.
During their state-wide ‘Thana Gherao’ event to protest against the alleged killing of a BJP worker in Naida, Khan said, “In West Bengal, the TMC government is constructing factories to make 20 rupees pouches of country-made liquor.”
“In a unique way, Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee are using that to kill BJP workers across the state,” the Bishnupur lawmaker was quoted as saying by Bengali daily Sangbad Pratidin.
He added, with a sense of warning, “If these murders are not stopped, not only in Nadia district, strike will be called in entire West Bengal.”
A BJP worker’s body was found hanging in Nadia district’s Gayeshpur on Sunday. Bijay Shil, the saffron party has alleged, was murdered by local TMC-backed goons.
To protest against the killing, BJP on Monday had called for a 12-hour strike in Gayeshpur and Kalyani regions, apart from blocking several police stations in various parts of the state.
Shil, 38, was a distributor of cooking gas cylinder and an active BJP worker. Reportedly he had gone missing on Saturday night before his hanging body was recovered the next day near Gayeshpur cremation ground.
The local BJP workers took to the streets as soon as the news of his death broke out and started accusing TMC of sponsoring the murder. West Bengal’s governning party has denied the accusations.
Local heavyweight leader and national vice-president of BJP, Mukul Roy, condemned the incident and urged West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar for his intervention.
However, Shil’s family has not taken part in the blame game. But they admitted that he had received death threats. If it was political or not, the family could not confirm.
Meanwhile, political violence throughout the state ahead of elections has been a major concern in West Bengal for long. However, leading to the Assembly Elections in 2021, the situation seems to be escalating at an alarming level.
In a likewise incident as Gayeshpur, a BJP MLA, Devendranath Dutta, was found hanging in a market place in North Dinajpur’s Hemtabad in July.
It has also been revealed by the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) data that in terms of political violence and killings, West Bengal stands top among all the Indian states.