NORTH DINAJPUR: The death of four persons in firing by Central security forces near a polling booth in the northern part of the state didn’t take long to snowball into a full-blown war of words between the two major rivals in the West Bengal Assembly elections. TMC and BJP blamed each other, with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the exchange of verbals.
Addressing a rally in Siliguri, the biggest city in north Bengal, Modi hit out at Mamata, describing the incident as a fallout of the TMC’s “culture of hooliganism” and accusing her of inciting violence. In retaliation, Mamata alleged that the Central forces opened fire without provocation and termed it a “pre-planned” move. She also demanded the resignation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and called him “the conspirator”.
“What happened in Cooch Behar is very unfortunate. My condolences are with the family members of those who died. Didi and her goons have become jittery, seeing people supporting BJP. Seeing her era coming to an end, Didi has stooped to this level. But this won’t work. I urge the Election Commission to take stern action against the guilty. Inciting people against Central forces and creating hindrances in the poll process won’t save Didi.’’
The chief minister was served a notice by the Election Commission for her statement against the Central forces. While addressing rallies, Mamata had on several occasions accused the forces deployed on poll duty of acting on instructions of BJP and Shah. She had also asked women voters to surround the Central force personnel if they stopped them from casting votes.
Referring to that call, Modi said: “Can you imagine a head of the state asking voters to gherao Central forces?’’ Refuting to accept the self-defence theory of the forces, Mamata said, “I believe this incident is pre-planned. Home Minister Amit Shah is responsible for this and he himself is the conspirator.”
CAPF ‘intimidation' raised in reply to EC
The chief minister was served a notice by the Election Commission for her statement against the Central forces.
While addressing rallies, Mamata had on several occasions accused the forces deployed on poll duty of acting on instructions of BJP and Shah. She had also asked women voters to surround the Central force personnel if they stopped them from casting votes.
Referring to that call, Modi said: “Can you imagine a head of the state asking voters to gherao Central forces?’’
Meanwhile, defending her remarks on Central armed police forces, Banerjee is learnt to have told the Election Commission on Saturday that she has the highest regard for CAPF but there have been serious allegations against them of intimidating and influencing the electorate to cast their vote for a particular political party