The BJP has called a 12-hour strike in East Midnapore’s Moyna on Wednesday after a party leader was found dead on Monday night.
Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and his party have blamed the Trinamul Congress and local police officers for the alleged murder.
Bijoykrishna Bhuina, chief of a BJP booth committee in Moyna constituency, was allegedly kidnapped by Trinamul-backed goons on Monday evening. His body was later found near a waterbody close to his residence. Another BJP worker Sanjay Tanti was also allegedly kidnapped.
“This murder was planned by superintendent of police Amarnath K, and other police officers, along with local Trinamul leaders like Saumen Mahapatra, and Sahajahan Ali. Bijoykrishna was murdered and then the body tactfully handed over to the police,” said Adhikari, who participated in a protest demonstration organised by the BJP workers of Moyna.
The BJP has also decided to set up blockades at 100 points in East Midnapore district between 10am and 11am on Wednesday. On Thursday, BJP workers will bring out a rally in protest against Bhuina’s alleged murder.
Adhikari has demanded a CBI probe into the matter and has moved court urging an order to instruct the police to hand over the body of the deceased to the family.
“The post-mortem of the deceased has to happen at a central government hospital. We do not trust state government hospitals. This is why we want the body back,” he said.
Moyna is one of the sixteen Assembly constituencies in East Midnapore. Former cricketer Ashok Dinda won this seat in 2021, defeating Trinamul’s Sangram Kumar Dolui by a margin of 1,260 votes.
The saffron camp has made repeated claims that the Trinamul leadership is upset with the people of Moyna for electing its candidate to represent them.
Dinda led a protest in front of Moyna police station on Monday evening. On Tuesday morning he, along with his followers, blocked the state highway connecting Tamluk to Moyna. Five hours later, the police removed the blockaders.
Mahapatra, who is the chief of Trinamul’s Tamluk organisational district and the MLA from Tamluk, rubbished Adhikari’s allegations against him.
“I’ve never indulged in this kind of politics and have always asked my people to remember that the common people do not support violence in politics,” he said.
Trinamul’s state secretary Kunal Ghosh said the death of Bhuina could be the fallout of an ongoing tussle between BJP’s oldtimers and newcomers.
“This might as well be the result of personal enmity. But the BJP is trying to blame Trinamul to divert attention from the truth,” Ghosh added.
BJP’s state and national leadership organised a protest meeting at Esplanade in Calcutta on Tuesday to commemorate those who were allegedly murdered by Trinamul “goons” in the aftermath of the Assembly poll results, which were announced two years ago on May 2, 2021. The BJP claimed that 61 of its workers had been killed in the post-poll violence.
The event was attended by BJP’s state president Sukanta Majumdar, national vice-president Dilip Ghosh, Adhikari, and other party leaders.
According to the party’s estimates, family members of around 40 deceased workers joined the meeting. Later, Majumdar and Ghosh offered prayers in memory of the deceased at Babughat.
“2nd May 2021 - A dark day in the history of WB. TMC workers unleashed macabre violence on BJP Karyakartas. Rape, arson, murder and loot continued across the state for months as Failure CM @mamataofficial smirked from Nabanna & her votaries spread terror,” Majumdar tweeted.
In another tweet, he alleged that Trinamul’s atrocities had killed 11 BJP workers — including Bhuina — since November last year.