Khejuri/Hooghly: The Trinamool Congress on Sunday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of being responsible for the death of a party worker in Hooghly and an arson incident in East Midnapore's Khejuri, where 60 shops were set ablaze. The BJP has denied all allegations.
Trinamool's Allegations
Sharing a picture of a bloodied corpse on its social media handle, Trinamool claimed that the deceased, Sahadeb Bag, was a Nokunda gram panchayat member under Goghat-I block, and his death was a case of post-poll violence. "How many more lives will be lost to political violence?" Trinamool asked on X, demanding that those responsible be "arrested immediately."
BJP's Denial
The BJP's Goghat unit denied any involvement of its party workers and suggested that Bag was killed for personal or financial reasons. A local police officer stated that Bag's body was found in a field, and investigators are exploring multiple angles, including business rivalries related to project tenders and political motives.
Arson in Khejuri
Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee alleged that the shops gutted in the fire in Khejuri belonged to party workers and that the act was committed by "BJP-backed miscreants." He said, "Over 60 shops were torched by BJP-backed miscreants, destroying the livelihoods of innocent people overnight. Hindu-owned shops, Muslim-owned shops, it made no difference. This was not an attack on any one community; it was a calculated assault on Bengal's social harmony, democratic fabric and the ordinary citizens who simply want to live in peace."
Banerjee added, "Bengal will never surrender to such violence. Those responsible for this shameful act must be identified and brought to justice at the earliest." He described the incident as a "barbaric" and "calculated assault" on Bengal's social harmony and democratic fabric.
BJP's Counter
BJP MLA Subrata Parui denied the allegations levelled by Banerjee and claimed that a gas cylinder explosion caused the fire. He called for a neutral probe free of political bias and emphasized that the focus should be on the plight of the shopkeepers who lost their shops.
