In a major incident of political violence in West Bengal, two CPI(M) leaders, including a former MLA, were brutally killed in Burdwan’s Dewandighi area on Wednesday morning. The deceased, Pradip Tah and Kamal Gayen, were both CPI(M)’s distict committee members while the former was also the former MLA of Burdwan North constituency. Another CPI(M) worker and a Trinamul Congress worker were badly injured and were undergoing treatment.
Alleging that the CPI(M) leaders were killed in a “pre-meditated manner” by the Trinamul Congress workers, the CPI(M) has given a call for a 12-hour Burdwan bandh on Thursday. Holding chief minister Mamata Banerjee responsible, Leader of the Opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra demanded her statement on the double murder. “She has the biggest responsibility as the supreme leader of her party, the home minister and the head of the state,” he added.
Dr Mishra alleged that upset by the huge success of the CPI(M) rally at Brigade Parade Ground on Sunday, the ruling party had intensified its attacks against Opposition party workers. “These gruesome killings in which a former MLA was killed, were pre-planned,” he said, adding that the number of CPI(M) workers killed since the announcement of state poll results had risen to 58.
Rejecting the charges, the Trinamul Congress put the entire blame for the mayhem on the CPI(M). Trinamul Congress secretary general Partha Chatterjee said that the CPI(M) leaders fell victims to people’s fury. The police has arrested four people Choton Chakraborty, Patitpaban Tah, Suji Tah and Gopal Goswami and is searching for others. The arrested are all Trinamul Congress supporters