KOLKATA: BJP workers on Monday held demonstrations outside several police stations across West Bengal, seeking justice for party activists who, they claimed, were murdered by miscreants backed by the ruling TMC.
Hundreds of saffron camp members raised slogans against the TMC government, claiming that BJP activists were being targeted by the Mamata Banerjee-led party.
"Mamata Banerjee is losing ground beneath her feet. Hence, her muscle men are unleashing violence on political rivals. Our peaceful democratic protest before different police stations is against the politics of murder adopted by the ruling party with the tacit support of the police," BJP General Secretary Amitava Chakraborty said.
Taking to Twitter, Union minister Babul Supriyo said killing someone for political affiliation is "sickening".
"14 BJP workers from West Bengal have lost their lives at the hands of Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers in the state in the last nine months, starting from January till 11 September thisyear#TMCStopPoliticalKillings.
"Are you so scared Didi that you have to resort to such brutality?" he wrote.
Echoing Supriyo, his colleague and Union minister Debasree Chowdhury said BJP workers have been victims of political violence in the state.
"On one hand, Didi says that there is peace in Bengal, but on the other hand BJP supporters have been the victim of political violence. Now, Didi can't see anything, she won't say anything," she stated on the microblogging site.
The party's state president, Dilip Ghosh, had said on Sunday that "more than 120 party activists had been killed by TMC-sheltered goons" in the state in recent times.
Countering the allegations, TMC Secretary General Partha Chatterjee told reporters that the BJP was trying to foment trouble and disrupt peace in West Bengal.
"However, the people of West Bengal are politically conscious and will not get swayed by cheap politics," he said.
In September, Madan Ghorai, who the BJP claimed was its activist, allegedly died in police custody in Khanakul area of Hooghly district.
BJP councillor Manish Shukla was shot dead in Titagarh area of North 24 Parganas earlier last month.
A 34-year-old man, identified as BJP worker Bijoy Sil, was found hanging from a tree near his house in Gayeshpur town on November 1.
The saffron party has claimed that they were "murdered by TMC goons".
The saffron party on Monday claimed that the state has turned into a haven for terrorists under the TMC government, after the NIA revealed earlier in the day that a suspected Al-Qaeda conspirator has been nabbed in Murshidabad district.
A 32-year-old madrassa teacher, Momin Mondal, allegedly working as an al-Qaeda conspirator to carry out terror attacks in India, was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday.
"The NIA is doing a wonderful job keeping India safe. But their job is difficult. The @MamataOfficial government has adopted polarising and appeasement policies which are harming the society and creating problems for all of India," BJP national general secretary and the party's Bengal minder Kailash Vijayvargiya said in a tweet.
Echoing him, Vijayvargiya's colleague and party co- observer, Arvind Menon, said many terror organisations have established their network in Bengal during the TMC's rule.
"West Bengal has become a safe asylum for Islamic Terrorists; many terror organisations have established their network in Bengal.
Mamata Banerjee's appeasement politics has now created a threat not only to West Bengal but to entire country," Menon said in a tweet.
The TMC, however, accused the BJP of trying to politicise the matter.
"Let the investigating agencies probe the matter. It is not like terror modules are busted in Bengal only, terrorists get arrested in other parts of the country, too," TMC MP Saugata Roy said.
Earlier in September, an Al-Qaeda terror module was busted by the NIA in Murshidabad district, following which six suspected terrorists were arrested.
Subsequently, five others have also been taken into custody in connection with the case.
Mondal was produced before the district court in Murshidabad which granted his transit remand for transporting him to New Delhi.