Sitalkuchi killings: After Dilip Ghosh, BJP leader Rahul Sinha says not 4, but 8 persons should have been shot dead

After West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Dilip Ghosh, another leader of the same party Rahul Sinha said on Monday that not four, but eight persons should have been shot dead by the Central forces in Cooch Behar’s Sitalkuchi. Sinha is the BJP candidate from Habra constituency.

On Sunday, Ghosh had said that “if anyone crosses the line, there will be a repeat of Sitalkuchi”, adding that anyone doubting the use of arms by the Central forces would “feel the heat of these firearms”. On Saturday, during the fourth phase of polling in the state, four persons died as CISF personnel opened fire following an alleged clash as voting was under way in the Sitalkuchi assembly constituency. Trinamool Congress chief and Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has termed the killings as “genocide”, and the party said all four were their supporters.

Rahul Sinha, on Monday said that “Not four, actually eight persons should have been shot dead in Shitalkuchi.” He was speaking at an election rally in Habra. “An 18-year-old boy was shot dead in public at a polling station for supporting BJP. And their leader is Mamata Banerjee,” he said referring to the incident in which an 18-year-old boy, a first time voter, was allegedly shot at by Trinamool Congress workers, earlier on the same day in the same constituency.

Sinha said the Central forces responded appropriately in Sitalkuchi adding that they will respond similarly if the same thing takes place again. At a rally today, Mamata Banerjee — without referring to Sinha — said that “such insensitive statements cannot be justified no matter what” and “such people should be banned from politics and put inside prisons”.

Trinamool Congress has moved the Election Commission seeking campaign ban on Dilip Ghosh over his remarks on Sitalkuchi and asked legal action to be initiated against him.