Durga Puja festive feel still in the air, the political skirmishes between ruling Trinamool Congress and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has become a major political issue in West Bengal yet again over four murders in the state.
The state BJP has been bringing up the issue of “eight murders in four days” in the state since Ashtami and asked “where are the intellectuals all over the country now? Why are they silent now?” This is no doubt, as reference to the letter of artists, authors, filmmakers, actors to the Prime Minister over lynching, that led to filing of a first information report against the signatories. While subsequently, the complaint filed was deemed as a malicious move, the BJP has alleged in the past that the protesters are silent when it comes to murders of their men.
In West Bengal, a priest was found dead on Thursday after he went missing earlier this week in Nadia district. Supriyo Banerjee (42), went missing after leaving home and was found murdered close to his house. He had apparently kept a lot of money in his two-wheeler and the family suspects that this could be cause of the murder. However, local BJP MP Jagannath Sarkar has said that he was a party worker and was killed due to political reasons. MP and union minister of state Babul Supriyo tweeted about the murder and said he was a BJP worker. “…Eight people have now been killed in just the last 4days. Law & Order in WB is a sad joke now. Why are the so-called liberals mute spectators to these gruesome murders?…” he tweeted.
In another incident, a triple murder took place in Murshidabad – a teacher, his pregnant wife and six-year-old son were murdered on Tuesday. Supriyo and BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra tweeted about this incident, questioning lack of response from “liberals”. “This has shaken my conscience …a RSS worker Bandhu Prakash Pal, his eight months pregnant wife and his kid were brutally slaughtered in West Bengal’s Murshidabad Not a word by the liberals Not a letter by 59 liberals to Mamata Nauseating Selectivism!”
The BJP in Bengal has been circulating a poster that questions the “silence” of intellectuals over “eight murders in four days” since Ashtami.
Two other murders are apparently that of Animesh Chakraborty and Ahmed Sheikh in Birbhum and Nadia respectively – who the BJP claimed were their party supporters. This was tweeted by the Bengal BJP.
It was not known whether as a response to this series of tweets and reactions from the BJP, but filmmaker Aparna Sen tweeted and said that the wrongdoers must be punished and requested chief minister Mamata Banerjee to take action. The tweet read, “Pregnant wife and child of RSS man slaughtered in our own West Bengal! Whatever the reason for such a gruesome act, shame on us! Madam CM! Please ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice! Irrespective of political inclinations, all citizens of WB are your responsibility. You are CM to all.”
Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar has said that investigation must be done and it “cannot be brushed under the carpet”. He was surprised about the “silence” of the Mamata Banerjee government. But the ruling Trinamool Congress reacted sharply at the Governor’s response and said that he was “crossing constitutional Laxman Rekhas” and it was suggested that he keep an eye on crimes in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Tripura.
