Mamata Banerjee on Monday tore into the BJP's habit of sending teams to Bengal at the drop of a hat and asserted that the violence around Ram Navami at several places in the state had been planned in the party office one month before.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a government event at Nabanna, the chief minister said the police administration under her had not given permission for Ram Navami rallies by Sangh parivar outfits in the pockets of Howrah and Hooghly.
“The police, in a very tactful manner, tried to end the violence and control the situation. Now that the situation has been brought under control, the BJP has sent a so-called fact-finding team to further incite violence. Fact-finding teams… khaay na mathay dyay, knacha lonka na lobodonka (does one eat them or use them as headgear, green chilli or zilch)?” asked a visibly displeased Mamata. She was responding to the committee’s "findings".
”BJP leaders are busy sending fact-finding teams, human rights teams, children’s rights teams, women rights teams, and whatnot,” said the Trinamul Congress chief.
Mamata had said there had been around 160 such teams sent to Bengal since the drubbing handed out to the BJP by the people of the state in the 2021 Assembly polls.
Former Patna High Court judge Justice L. Narasimha Reddy, who headed the six-member "fact-finding" team, said the committee had found that the clashes had been pre-planned, orchestrated and instigated. The committee recommended a probe by the National Investigation Agency.
Justice Reddy alleged that it was the police and the ruling dispensation that had facilitated the skirmishes.
“The root cause of all this is the determination of the political establishment. If you have seen this type of speech, the head of the state should not speak in terms of 'you' and 'us'. After all, everybody is her own citizen,” said Justice Reddy.
The chief minister questioned the very logic of sending such panels.
“Before the media, they are parroting only the BJP’s narrative and busy spreading fake news…. Everything that has happened over the past week in Bengal, the BJP has done it intentionally and deliberately,” she said.
“A month before Ram Navami, all the planning for the violence was done in the BJP office. What is the need of a fact-finding team, when normality has been restored?” asked Mamata.
Repeatedly asserting the absence of a police nod for the way the Ram Navami processions had been carried out in the pockets that had experienced tension, Mamata said there was “absolutely no foul play” by the police administration. On March 31, in one of her first reactions, she admitted to certain lapses and failures at the police end.
“In the meeting with police officers, the organisers had said they would take out the procession during lunch hours, but the BJP deliberately took out the rally during the time of prayers to incite people,” she said.
“What is the need for carrying firearms in a religious meeting or procession? Why were those in the procession dancing with guns? What was the need of taking out rallies with bulldozers and tractors? For a religious procession, what is the need for arms? Who gave these people the permission to bring bulldozers and tractors to a rally?”
She said “all the men” who were the troublemakers-in-chief at the Shibpur rally in Howrah were from outside Bengal. “...People from Bengal stay together, they don’t do riots, they are naturally culturally-inclined.”
