Unbridled violence rocked Bhangar for the third consecutive day in a row, with crude bombs being lobbed and illegal firearms used by criminals with impunity, resulting in at least one person getting killed and several others sustaining grievous injuries. Clashes between supporters of the Indian Secular Front (ISF) and the Trinamul Congress kept Bhangar Block II on the boil for the entire day on the final day of submission of panchayat nominations.
One ISF worker, Mohiuddin Mollah, died instantly after getting shot through his head. Another ISF supporter Bahauddin Mollah was admitted to RG Kar Medical College and Hospital with bullet injuries. Unconfirmed reports said that one Trinamul Congress worker also succumbed to bullet injuries sustained during the clashes.
Some eight four-wheelers, mostly goods vehicles, and multiple two-wheelers were torched in Bijoygunj Bazar and the Bijoygunj mela ground which served as the epicenter of the clashes. Police’s lathi charge and firing of tear gas shells to disperse the warring mob proved largely ineffective in controlling the out-of-bounds violence. Even media personnel were targeted and crude bombs were hurled at them.
Clashes between the two groups also broke out inside office premises of the Block Development Officer at Bhangar II where nominations were supposed to be submitted after ISF supporters alleged that Trinamul “outsiders” who opened fire on them were found to have taken shelter inside the government building.
Earlier in the day, a prospective CPI-M candidate was shot dead in Chopra, North Dinajpur on Thursday when Left and Congress candidates were on their way to file nominations at the local BDO office. Two other Left workers reportedly also sustained bullet injuries in the violence. The party alleged that Trinamul Congress-sheltered goons fired upon the rally to stop them from filing nominations resulting in the death and injuries.
The twin incidents in two opposite corners of the state took the casualty figure on the last day of nominations to at least two and, considering the murder of the Congress worker in Khargram, Murshidabad last week after the poll schedule was announced, the total death toll in Bengal in the run up to the panchayat elections currently stood at a minimum of three.
Trinamul supremo Mamata Banerjee, however, called the instances of poll-related violence “sporadic, few and far between” compared to the “overall peaceful atmosphere with which nominations were filed across the state”. “The Trinamul Congress has no connection with the violence which took place in Islampur and Chopra. There were express instructions from the party to not stop any opposition from filing nominations. To the best of my knowledge, over one lakh nominations have already been filed. How could that have happened if the Trinamul stopped the opposition from doing so?” she told media persons during a programme at Diamond Harbour.
On Bhangar violence, Banerjee squarely laid the blame on the ISF. “The opposition has been stoking violence there since Tuesday. They provoked and misled our Muslim brothers in the area with communal slogans and resorted to loot, arson and vandalism,” she said and added: “But I will agree that there was a retaliation from our side yesterday. I am not aware of the latest developments there but I have instructed the police to deal with the miscreants with an iron hand.”
ISF leader Naushad Siddiqui alleged that the TMC had planned the day’s attack with firearms to stop his candidates from filing nominations. “The High Court had passed specific orders to ensure that this violence didn’t happen. But the state election commissioner never implemented any of them,” he said.
Unruly scenes were also witnessed outside the State Election Commission office in Calcutta on Thursday afternoon after Left workers marched to the building to protest against the Chopra killing.
