Senior TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee on Friday criticised the BJP for allegedly letting loose a reign of terror after its defeat in the West Bengal panchayat polls and said the goons associated with the saffron camp are seeking legal protection from the judiciary preventing the law enforcing agencies from acting against them.

Banerjee, the TMC national general secretary, said the BJP, “after losing its mass base”, is now resorting to violence and a malicious campaign to divert attention from its failures.

“We are against any form of violence. Since the election results were announced, the BJP has unleashed terror across the state. In Nandigram, where the BJP has won a few seats, the goons of saffron camp have driven TMC activists out of their homes, beaten them up and threatened to rape their woman,” he said.

Nandigram is the assembly constituency of Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the opposition.

Banerjee, the de-facto number two in the TMC, wondered how "the goons associated with the BJP can avail legal protection”, thus putting the lives of the common people at stake.

“The goons associated with the saffron camp are seeking legal protection from the judiciary preventing the law enforcing agencies from acting against them. Unfortunately, these goons are getting legal protection,” he said.

Claiming that those who lost lives are mostly associated with the TMC, Banerjee said the BJP and its agencies should investigate who killed them.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that 19 people, mostly from her TMC, died in poll-related violence since the election date was announced on June 8.

Police sources, however, have put the number of fatalities at 38 but agree that at least 60 per cent of those who lost their lives were affiliated with the TMC.

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