West Bengal: Trinamool, BJP workers clash in Birbhum, 6 held

Birbhum SP N Sudheer Kumar confirmed that six persons have been arrested in connection with the violence. “The incident took place last night. There were reports of bombs being hurled and bullets being fired. Four people were injured. Later, we arrested six persons… the situation is peaceful now. We are probing the matter,” he said.

A large number of police personnel have been deployed at the village. Trinamool Birbhum president Anubrata Mondal could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

State BJP general secretary and party’s Birbhum district observer, Sayantan Basu, claimed Trinamool workers had masterminded the attack to capture the area before next year’s panchayat elections. “Trinamool, with the help of the police, is organising such attacks on our workers. It was a one-sided attack… Trinamool has been trying to capture several villages and displacing our workers from their homes. Police are arresting our workers, who were not involved in the incident. If needed, a state BJP delegation will visit Choumandalpur,” he said.

Basu added that BJP national general secretary and party observer for West Bengal, Kailash Vijayvargiya, is scheduled to hold a public meeting at Suri in Birbhum, where police had lathicarged party workers on April 11 during a Hanuman Jayanti rally. “They want to create trouble during our leader’s public meeting. Our workers should remain alert and not react to provocations,” he said.

Speaking to mediapersons, BJP president Dilip Ghosh appealed to the Centre to intervene.

“A reign of terror has been unleashed by Trinamool across the state. This is a matter of concern for us and we condemn such violence. I would urge the Centre to intervene and bring the situation under control, as we have no faith in the state police,” he said.