KOLKATA: Hours before Union home minister Amit Shah reached Birbhum, shops owned by BJP supporters at the Simulia crossing in West Bengal's Nanoor were gutted in fire on Sunday.
Dulu Mete, one of the shop owners, whose shop was burnt down alleged that supporters of Trinamool Congress have done this. "I did not know about it. When I went to market, locals alerted me first.
They said that three shops were gutted. One of the shops was mine," Mete said.
Mete, who is not a BJP worker but supports the party, added, "I was doing some odd jobs and the TMC supporters forced me to quit the job. Who other than TMC workers would do this kind of a work? A few days back they had come to the shop and threatened my father".
Gautam Ghorai, another shop owner, said that he was threatened earlier after he attended a BJP meeting at Siuri. "We went to attend Dilip Ghosh’s meeting at Siuri a few days back. After that local TMC supporters threatened us with dire consequences. They asked us not to open shops anymore. We were afraid and kept the shops closed. Today they have gutted the shops," he added.