BJP slams TMC: Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Saturday (July 8) came down heavily on the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal over the violence on the panchayat election polling day and said that her party TMC considers ‘murders its guarantee to power’.
He said that Bengal’s ‘bomb culture’ is shaming India and its democracy worldwide.
"How low will she stoop to establish her party's dominance in the panchayat polls," he asked.
In a statement, Thakur said law and order has crumbled in the state as "over 12 people" have been killed during the polls.
'Bengal's bomb culture is shaming India'
"Under Mamata Banerjee, the TMC believes that murders are its guarantee to power. Bengal's bomb culture is shaming India and its democracy the world over," the Minister said.
He also slammed the use of ballot boxes in place of the EVMs in the rural polls and recalled the visuals of goons running away with the boxes.
"Rigging is taking place and people being killed to establish dominance," he alleged.
Thakur blamed the ruling TMC for the violence which claimed over 10 lives in the state during the polling and said that Mamata should explain as to why every poll in the state is full of violence.
He also accused Mamata’s party of passing its accountability by apportioning blame on others.
"Democracy is being murdered in West Bengal but everyone is silent," he said, targeting the critics who often attack the BJP on the issue of democracy.
BJP Rajya Sabha MP slams TMC
BJP spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sudhanshu Trivedi said that West Bengal used to be a centre of art, culture and science and ‘now, it is known for crimes, anti-national activities and dangerous appeasement’.
He alleged that the Mamata government has used criminals for spreading violence during the polling.
“Members of the BJP and the Left-Congress combine have been killed and such a situation has emerged that different factions of the TMC are attacking each other,” he alleged.
"Violence has been going on in Bengal for years. It is not only continuing but gradually rising," Trivedi added.
The BJP leader took a swipe at the critics of the party and said that they are unable to see these murders in their opposition to the party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The situation in Bengal is a lot like in Bihar of the 1990s,” he said.
"The state government's actions have been exposed through constitutional means," he added.
Hailing the judicial intervention in the polls, Trivedi said that things could have been worse had the central forces not been deployed.
While opposition parties in the state such as the BJP have pitched for the extensive use of central forces, accusing the state police of supporting the ruling party, the TMC has often labelled similar allegations against the central forces.
Around 5.67 crore voters were expected to exercise their franchise to choose representatives for nearly 928 seats across 22 zilla parishads, 9,730 panchayat samitis and 63,229 gram panchayats.
(With PTI inputs)
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