New Delhi: A few days after violence marred the fourth phase of the West Bengal assembly elections with the Cooch Behar firing incident, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) senior state leader, Rahul Sinha, said the security forces should have killed eight people instead, and not just four, news reports said.
On Saturday, violence broke out at one polling station of the Sitalkuchi seat in Cooch Behar, where four people died after the CISF fired at them and one died due to firing by unknown persons.
According to reports, police said the firing occurred after some people tried to “snatch weapons” from the CISF.
“Not four, eight people should have been shot dead in Sitalkuchi. The central forces should be issued a showcause notice asking why they killed only four and not eight…Goons are trying to deprive people of their democratic rights. Central forces responded appropriately. If it happens again, they will answer again,” Sinha told the Indian Express on Sunday evening.
Sinha reportedly blamed the Trinamool Congress (TMC) for the fifth death that occurred on the same day. “An 18-year-old boy was shot dead in public at a polling station for supporting BJP and their leader is Mamata Banerjee,” he told the daily.
In a similar incident, West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh Sunday said more Cooch Behar-like killings may happen in the next phase of assembly elections if “dustu chelera” (bad boys) do not behave in the coming election phases.
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TMC urges strict action against BJP leaders for “instigating” violence
According to PTI, the TMC on Monday urged the Election Commission to take strict action against BJP leaders who allegedly made inflammatory remarks over the Cooch Behar firing incident that claimed the lives of “four unarmed civilians”.
In a letter to West Bengal chief electoral officer Ariz Aftab, the party said several BJP leaders, including Ghosh, were “instigating” violence with their warnings of more Cooch Behar-like episodes.
Citing the first instance, the letter said, “On April 11, 2021, at a rally in Baranagar, Dilip Ghosh said people have seen what happened at Sitalkuchi and warned that if anyone oversteps boundary, the incident of Sitalkuchi will be repeated. An official complaint has already been lodged with the CEO.”
The letter, signed by TMC MPs Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Derek O’Brien, also mentioned of similar remarks made by BJP leaders Rahul Sinha and Sayantan Basu.
“The top brass of the BJP has been actively condoning the murder and brazenly suggesting that more innocent lives should have been lost at the hands of central armed police forces,” the TMC said.
The party demanded that “appropriate legal action, including criminal proceedings, be taken against Ghosh, Sinha, Basu and others for their inflammatory statements”.
(With inputs from PTI)