Birbhum violence: BJP demands Mamata Banerjee's resignation, delegation to visit today

Follow us on

A delegation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will visit Rampurhat in Birbhum district of West Bengal today where eight people were charred to death as nearly a dozen houses were set ablaze. 

The issue is also likely to be raised by the Bengal BJP MPs in the Parliament today. Fear and anxiety have gripped the locals in the area, prompting them to leave their homes and move to other places. "We are leaving the houses, in view of security. My brother-in-law died in the incident. Had there been security by the police, this incident wouldn't have happened," a villager told ANI.

According to a PTI report, nearly a dozen houses were set ablaze early on Tuesday in a suspected fallout of the murder of ruling Trinamool Congress's Barshal village panchayat's deputy chief Bhadu Sheikh, provoking calls by the opposition BJP for the imposition of President’s rule and demand Mamata Banerjee's resignation. All eight were buried late Tuesday night in the presence of district officials.

"It would be appropriate for Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, to resign as her government is unable to protect citizens and has instead, allegedly extended patronage to criminals," BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said.

Police said that 11 people were arrested on Tuesday and nine others were taken into custody on Wednesday.

"With nine more arrests, the number of those who have been nabbed in the case rose to 20. We are grilling them to find out if there were more people involved in the incident. Some accused seem to have fled the village. We are trying to trace them," a police official told PTI. He also stated that forensic experts were examining the ravaged houses to get an idea about the "nature of the mishap".

The West Bengal government has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Additional Director General (CID) Gyanwant Singh to probe the incident. The Sub-divisional Police Officer concerned an officer in-charge of Rampurhat police station have been removed from active policing duty.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar went for each other's jugular over the incident, while the Union Home Ministry sought a detailed report from the TMC government. On Tuesday, a 9-member delegation of BJP MPs including the party's national vice president Dilip Ghosh, Locket Chatterjee and Arjun Singh met Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi and sought his intervention to punish the perpetrators of the incident.

BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari has demanded the imposition of the President's Rule in the state. "The lawless situation in the state proves imposition of President's Rule is the only way to protect the state. Our delegation will visit the area," he said, alleging the TMC is now killing its "own people", indicating the incident could be the result of intra-party rivalry.

BJP president JP Nadda has separately constituted a five-member committee, which includes four MPs, to visit the site of the tragedy. The members of the fact-finding committee are former Uttar Pradesh DGP Brij Lal, former Mumbai police commissioner Satya Pal Singh, former IPS officer K C Ramamurthy, West Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar -- all MPs -- and former IPS officer Bharati Ghosh.

Slamming the West Bengal government over the incident, BJP president J P Nadda, in a tweet, said, “Shocked by the death of 10 innocent persons in violence that took place at Rampurhat in Birbhum district of West Bengal. This incident proves that Mamata Banerjee government has no control over law and order. I condemn this incident in the strongest words and demand strict action against the culprits,” Nadda tweeted.

READ MORE: Birbhum violence: 8 charred to death, MHA seeks report from Mamata govt