After MP, BJP says its MLA also assaulted in flood-hit north Bengal; TMC counters charge
BJP MLA Manoj Oraon told reporters in Alipurduar that local TMC leaders were behind the attack on him
KOLKATA: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday alleged that party MLA Manoj Oraon was assaulted by Trinamool Congress workers at a village in his Kumargram constituency in flood-hit Alipurduar district, a claim that comes a day after the BJP’s Malda North Lok Sabha MP Khagen Murmu was hospitalised after being attacked in Jalpaiguri district.
Oraon told reporters in Alipurduar that local TMC leaders were behind the attack on him.
Some videos circulating on social media showed central paramilitary personnel escorting Oraon out of an area, using batons to chase away the villagers.
In Kolkata, BJP Bengal unit president Samik Bhattacharya insisted that the BJP leaders were trying to distribute relief material. “Jihadis protected by TMC are carrying out premeditated attacks when our leaders are visiting flood affected areas to distribute relief materials,” said Bhattacharya.
Bhattacharya said the attacks had been planned to engineer communal disharmony and scare people in the north Bengal region. “TMC cannot use Rohingyas and infiltrators from Bangladesh forever to target us,” he said, demanding a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the attacks.
”This situation cannot be allowed to continue,” Bhattacharya added.
TMC state general secretary Kual Ghosh rejected the allegations.
“The state government is working around the clock to help the flood-affected people. Our party does not support any form of violence. The villagers expressed anger on seeing BJP leaders touring these areas for photo opportunities,” he said.
In north Bengal’s Siliguri, the chief minister called on BJP MP Murmu at a private hospital to inquire about his health.
In Tripura state capital Agartala, TMC said BJP workers ransacked the party’s state head office on Tuesday evening after a protest over the attack on Murmu.
In a statement, TMC said the “violent attack on Tripura office by BJP-backed goons is not an isolated act of aggression, it is an open assault on democracy. When those in power unleash violence to silence their opponents, they expose not strength, but fear and moral bankruptcy. The BJP talks about “saving democracy” while burning its very foundations, state after state.”
“They may destroy offices, tear posters, and intimidate workers but they cannot destroy the spirit of resistance that lives in every Trinamool worker and every citizen who believes in justice,” it added.
