New Delhi: Facing all-round recrimination for the recent mass killings in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee pointed out Wednesday that such incidents have happened in Gujarat and Rajasthan as well.
Banerjee was quick to add: “I am not justifying the incident in Rampurhat. We will take action in a fair manner.”
The “incident” that Banerjee spoke of was the horrific deaths of eight people in the village of Bogtui in Rampurhat, Birbhum.
The bodies were charred beyond recognition when their homes were set ablaze by an angry mob on Monday night — an hour after Trinamool panchayat leader Bhadu Sheikh was allegedly killed in a bomb attack. He lived in the village.
Seven members of one family died in the arson, after ruffians set fire to nearly 12 houses.
The Opposition have described the deaths as “politics of murder” and said the killings were retaliatory. The BJP will send a fact-finding team to assess the violence – the biggest since Banerjee came to power last year.
Banerjee said Wednesday she was inviting scrutiny from everybody. “I had sent a delegation to Hathras (after the gangrape of a Dalit teenager), but we were not allowed entry. We are not stopping anyone from coming here. This is Bengal, not Uttar Pradesh,” she said.
Describing the steps she has taken – dismissing local administration officers – Banerjee said: “The government is ours, we are concerned about people in our state. We would never want anyone to suffer. I will go to Rampurhat tomorrow.”
The Calcutta High Court, meanwhile, has registered a case and a bench headed by the chief justice is hearing it. The bench asked the government to submit a status report on the violence by 2 pm Thursday. The court also directed the installation of CCTV cameras and round-the-clock surveillance in the village.
BJP MP Dilip Ghosh tweeted: “More than 200 BJP workers have been killed so far in the state. What is the government doing? This can’t be tolerated.”
Banerjee has formed a three-member special investigating team to probe the deaths.
At least 20 people have been arrested since Wednesday. “Some accused seem to have fled the village. We are trying to trace them,” an officer told news agency PTI.
On Wednesday morning Governor Jagdeep Dhankar slammed Mamata Banerjee in a three-page letter, saying the casualties may be higher.
Banerjee had cautioned him on Tuesday to allow the state to conduct an impartial probe after he suggested in a video message that human rights had been “decimated” in the state.
Also read: Number of those arrested for Birbhum killings rises to 22, Left hold rally near at Rampurhat