Trinamool delegation visits violence-hit Bhatpara, demands BJP MP's arrest

An eight-member Trinamool legislature party delegation visited violence-hit Bhatpara in West Bengal on Friday, more than a week after two persons were allegedly killed in police firing, and demanded local BJP MP Arjun Singh's arrest for fomenting trouble in the area.

Senior Trinamool Congress leaders including State Food Minister Jyotipriyo Mullick, Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim, Fire Minister Sujit Bose, Science and Technology Minister Bratya Basu and party MLAs Partha Bhowmick and Nirmal Ghosh reached Bhatpara on Friday afternoon and talked to the locals.

"People are not well. There has been constant violence and bombings in some areas. BJP has terrorised people for the last one month. The entire Bengal should see that wherever BJP makes inroads, unrest follows. There has been attacks on not just the Muslims but many Bengali-speaking people here. We have urged police to firmly handle the situation and reinstate peace," Hakim said after meeting the Barrackpore Police Commissioner.

"Arjun Singh is a criminal. He and his men have brought in arms in the area. We demand that Arjun Singh and the miscreants backed by him should be arrested immediately for keeping illegal weapons," he claimed.

Noting that the state government and Trinamool Congress are with the affected people of Bhatpara, Hakim said one family member of each of the deceased persons will be given a government job while the injured will be given compensation.

"All those who were killed here in violence will be given jobs by the Bengal government. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has already announced compensation to those whose houses have been damaged in the violence. We have asked the Police Commissioner to take the family members of the two people killed last week to state secretariat 'Nabanna' so that they can be given jobs as well," the Trinamool Congress leader said.

"The government has directed the police to reinstate peace. We will come again after a week to take stock of the situation. BJP is trying to foment unrest across Bengal by creating a communal divide. Mamata Banerjee has stopped them," he said.

Barrackpore Police Commissioner Manoj Kumar Verma said family members of four of seven people killed so far in the post-poll violence in Bhatpara will be given compensation of Rs 2.5 lakh.

"We are told that government jobs will be provided to one member from each of the four families. This has been sanctioned so far. We have not received any details about the rest three," Verma told the reporters here.

A three-member central delegation of the BJP had visited Bhatpara and met the families of the two deceased last week.

A joint delegation of Left Front and Congress went to Bhatpara on June 27 to hold a peace rally but were stopped by the police as CrPC 144 was still imposed in the area.

A team of intellectuals also held a rally in Kankinara-Bhatpara area on Thursday and urged the locals to reinstate peace.

Bhatpara and its adjoining Kankinara, Jagaddal, and Naihati areas under the Barrackpore parliamentary constituency have been on the boil since the general election results on May 23.

Former Trinamool MLA from Bhatpara Arjun Singh, who defected to the BJP just before the 2019 polls, won the Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat while his son Pawan Singh won the Assembly by-election from Bhatpara.

A fresh flare-up in the area on June 20 left two persons dead and at least four others injured when the police had to open fire, prompting the administration to impose prohibitory orders in the affected areas. IANS