The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has called a 12-hour Bengal bandh on Wednesday to protest the deaths of two persons in Islampur of Uttar Dinajpur district.
The ruling Trinamool Congress however, says that the bandh will be thwarted and that the BJP is trying to create unrest in the state. State education minister Partha Chatterjee said that schools, colleges and transport will remain normal in the state tomorrow.
Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament, Idris Ali, filed a public interest litigation against the bandh call by the BJP. He filed the PIL on behalf of the All India Minority Forum.
The BJP’s call for bandh is to protest the killing of two persons – Rajesh Sarkar and Tapan Burman in Islampur, who were killed in police firing, the BJP has alleged. The district superintendent Sumit Kumar, however has said that police had not opened fire.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who is now in Italy, said that she would make sure there is no bandh in the state. “I will ask my officials to ensure there is no shutdown,” she stated.
Banerjee has said that the BJP and the RSS were trying to create communal disturbance in the state. She said the government had provided the Daribhit School in Islampur with an Urdu teacher because there was such a requisition from the school authorities. “If there is no problem when a Sanskrit or an English teacher is appointed, why is there a problem over an Urdu teacher?” she asked.
There was trouble in the school over the recruitment of Urdu teachers as the students protesting said that they needed science and English teachers instead. The protesting students and local people stopped the entry of two newly recruited teachers including the Urdu teacher from entering the school premises in Thursday. In addition, they demanded all the vacant seats to be filled. This led to a clash, leading to firing and the death of two persons. While police denied opening fire, the BJP state president Dilip Ghosh has alleged that the two were killed in police firing.
Meanwhile, the families of the deceased have refused to cremate the bodies till a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry is initiated. Instead, they have buried the bodies for the central agency to exhume and examine them.
Comments are closed.