New Delhi, Jun 28 (PTI) A BJP panel has claimed that free and fair elections in West Bengal were seriously compromised under the Trinamool Congress government while alleging that police had turned into an extension of the state’s ruling party.
A BJP committee of four MPs — former Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb, ex-Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Brijlal and Kavita Patidar, submitted its report to party president J P Nadda on Friday.
The committee was constituted by the party to look into the alleged post-poll violence in the state, an assertion rejected by the TMC as an “orchestrated drama” by the BJP to divert attention from its poor show in the state in the Lok Sabha polls.
BJP sources said the committee claimed that open intimidation, threat, violence, and attack by the “goons” of TMC on those opposed to the state’s ruling party became a “very shameful norm” in Bengal.
It alleged, “What is indeed very shocking is that women, including that of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, are beings subjected to vicious attacks and even sexual assaults in public without any action being taken against culprits.” Taking a swipe at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the BJP team said such incidents were happening with a woman in charge of the state. For her, women’s dignity is not important but being victorious in the election is, it alleged.
Abuse of power against opponents has become a norm during every election in the state, with a collaborating police and administration giving a helping hand to the TMC, the BJP panel alleged.
“A large part of Bengal today has been flooded by illegal immigrants and also by Rohingyas who are getting a safe haven under a collusive strategy from the TMC,” it said.
The TMC won 29 of the 42 seats in the state in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, reducing the BJP’s tally to 12 from 18 seats it won in the 2019 general elections. PTI KR NSD NSD
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