A day after the ruling TMC retained power in West Bengal, goons unleashed violence on political opponents, especially the BJP and the communist parties. Multiple reports have come forth beginning Sunday afternoon, at the time of counting where TMC showed early trends of winning the elections. The violence continued on Monday.
TMC Muslim Goons are beating BJP Women Workers in kendamari village, Nandigram#Shamemamatabannerjee #ShameTMC pic.twitter.com/V8eireETm6
— Kailash Vijayvargiya (@KailashOnline) May 3, 2021
In a video shared by BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya, one can see how the goons were thrashing women workers of the BJP in Nandigram, where Mamata Banerjee lost to BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari.
Similar scenes of violence were witnessed against communist party cadres as well.
Are these reports of gruesome violence in Bengal TMC’s ‘victory celebrations’?Condemnable.
— Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) May 3, 2021
Will be resisted & rebuffed.
Instead of focusing on combating the pandemic TMC unleashes such mayhem.
CPI(M), as always, will be with the people to protect, assist, providing relief. pic.twitter.com/zZUSfNH4wn
Communist party leaders took to Twitter to share images of violence unleashed in aftermath of TMC’s victory in West Bengal.
— Aishe (ঐশী) (@aishe_ghosh) May 3, 2021
Amid all this, TMC’s top leadership has not only blamed the victims but also brazened out the violence.
Top TMC leadership waters down post-poll violence
TMC chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appealed to maintain peace while inflaming passion.
I appeal to everyone to maintain peace and not indulge in any violence. We know BJP and Central Forces have tortured us a lot but we have to maintain peace. At present, we have fight COVID19: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee pic.twitter.com/Q0SnRSi39B
— ANI (@ANI) May 3, 2021
“I appeal to everyone to maintain peace and not indulge in any violence. We know BJP and Central Forces have tortured us a lot but we have to maintain peace. At present, we have fight COVID19,” Banerjee said.
TMC MP Derek O’Brien resorted to victim blaming and claimed that the gruesome scenes of violence unfolding in West Bengal are ‘intra party’ fights. He accused PM Modi and HM Amit Shah of ‘spreading hate’. On Tuesday morning, he even retweeted his tweet brazening out the violence.
The Wire journalist Himadri claimed that the BJP has ‘unleashed a massive disinformation campaign in Bengal’. This, too, was retweeted by Derek while tagging the Bengal Police, insinuating that all the videos and images of injured supporters of BJP as well as Left parties are ‘massive disinformation campaign’ by the BJP.
Similarly, TMC supporter Agnivo Niyogi tweeted that the violent scenes from West Bengal is ‘propaganda’. This, too, was retweeted by Derek O’Brien.
TMC MP Mahua Moitra posted an image late last night which said, “Sawal yeh nahin ki bastiyan kisne jalaayi. Sawal yeh hai ki pagal ke haath mein maachis kisne di? Zara thande dimag se sochiye.” (Question is not who burnt down the village, but the question is who gave the mad person the matchstick to set the fire? Think with a cool mind.)
Many netizens guessed who might have given the matchstick to the mad person.
The Caravan Magazine journalist Vidya Krishnan pointed out that the matchstick was handed over to the ‘mad person’ by poll strategist Prashant Kishor. Kishor was hired by TMC and Mamata Banerjee for the 2021 West Bengal state assembly elections.
Some even hailed her for her inadvertent honesty.
West Bengal has been engulfed in post-poll violence as numerous BJP and Left workers are attacked, beaten up and also killed. Many shops are looted and law and order situation in the state has gone for a toss. However, it seems the people at the top have chosen to turn a blind eye to what is happening in the state termed as ‘sweetest part of India’