On Thursday, the 12th of November, the convoy of BJP leader and West Bengal state president Dilip Ghosh was attacked as it passed through Asian Highway 48 and reached Jaigaon. Two cars of the convoy were damaged as stones were mercilessly pelted at the convoy which had Dilip Ghosh.
Convoy of Bengal BJP President Shri Dilip Ghosh was today attacked at Alipurduar, in the attack the car of MLA Shri Wilson Champamari was damaged.
— Arvind Menon (@MenonArvindBJP) November 12, 2020
From a booth level worker to the State President ,each and every BJP worker is being targeted by the TMC's goons.@BJP4Bengal pic.twitter.com/m1nh1KeQgI
Sharing a video of the damaged car, BJP leader and co-in charge of Bengal, Arvind Menon said that from a booth-level worker to the state president, each and every BJP worker is being targeted by the TMC goons. The damaged car in the video shared by Menon was that of BJP leader Wilson Champamari.
On Thursday, Dilip Ghosh, who is on a tour of north Bengal, headed for Khoklabusty of Jaigaon for a public meeting. As his convoy headed down AH48, 100s of people with black flags and posters saying “Go Back Dilip Ghosh” assembled at GST More on the way to Jaigaon. At Jharnabusty, another 6km away, another group started pelting stones at the vehicles.
The two vehicles that were severely damaged were that of Kalchini MLA Wilson Champramary the Alipurduar district president of BJP’s ST Morcha.
Mukul Roy too took to Twitter to condemn that attack, vowing to overthrow the tyrannical regime of Mamata Banerjee.
I strongly condemn the attack on Shri @DilipGhoshBJP, President of @BJP4Bengal, at Alipurduar by miscreants. The people of the state would give a befitting reply to the anarchic state govt. @BJP4Bengal would fight till the end to uproot this tyrannical rule of TMC.
— Mukul Roy (@MukulR_Official) November 12, 2020
While the BJP says that its convoy was attacked by TMC goons because they are getting scared of losing power in the state, Mridul Goswami, Alipurduar district Trinamul chief, called the protests “a spontaneous reaction” of people.
Reacting to the attack, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar has said that he cannot be a silent spectator as the law and order machinery breaks down in the state.
#BengalShowdown | West Bengal Governor slams TMC government. #FirstUp #ITVideo pic.twitter.com/t7UEDgtahu
— IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) November 13, 2020
Governor Dhankhar said that an environment of political violence has been created in the state of West Bengal. “We are in a very explosive situation. The threat to democracy is increasing day by day. Rule of law is nose-diving. I cannot be a silent spectator”.
He further said that the people had his assurance that the elections (to be held in 2021) would be peaceful and follow the rule of law. He also said that those who believe that things will continue to happen the way they used to in Bengal are wrong.
After Bihar, it is time for West Bengal for BJP
After winning 125 seats in the state of Bihar, without wasting any time, so to speak, the BJP has turned its attention to West Bengal. While celebrating the win of the NDA alliance in Bihar, Prime Minister Modi delivered a speech tacitly targeting the West Bengal government led by Mamata Banerjee after the recent spate of violence in the state.
He said that those who are unable to compete with BJP in democratic ways, those who are finding it difficult to challenge BJP democratically, such people have adopted the tactic of killing BJP workers. “In some parts of the country, they think that by killing the BJP workers they will succeed in their plans. I try to explain them with the request, I do not need to threaten them, that will be done by the people”, the PM said, inviting cheers and applauds from the crowd present.
“Elections come and go, wins and losses keep happening, sometimes this party rules sometimes that party rules, but this game of murders can not go on in a democracy”, Narendra Modi said. Nobody can win votes by the game of murders, read these writings on the wall, the PM added, without naming any state or party.
Modi’s comment came just a week after home minister Amit Shah had referred to the political murders in West Bengal during his visit to the state. During a rally in the state, Amit Shah had stated that violence and political killings had become the hallmark of the Mamata regime.
Saying that West Bengal tops the chart in political killings, Shah had asked CM Mamata Banerjee to release a white paper on political killings in the state. He also said that the state government has not sent the statistics of crime to the National Crime Record Bureau.
There have been several incident of murders of BJP leaders in the state. Last month, lawyer and BJP councillor from Titagarh Manish Shukla was shot dead by unknown assailants near Titagarh police station in Brackpore area. A week after that, one BJP worker hailing from Ranaghat in TMC ruled West Bengal’s Nadia district was brutally shot dead.
Other than shootings, bodies of BJP workers found hanging from trees in rural areas also happen regularly. BJP leaders have alleged that TMC goons are behind all these murders.