National BJP president J.P. Nadda on Wednesday compared the post-poll violence in Bengal with the Direct Action Day of 1946, thereby giving the political clashes a communal colour with an intention to malign Mamata Banerjee who was sworn in as the state’s chief minister for the third time.

“I condemn the brutal killings of the Bengali people and all citizens residing in Bengal. This makes me remember the Partition days. I also remember August 16, 1946, when the Direct Action Day was declared…it resembles May 2, 2021, when the results were declared...which became the ‘Khela hobe day’,” Nadda told a news conference in Calcutta.

“Khela hobey”, loosely translated means ‘game is on’, was the Trinamul Congress slogan in this election.

The Direct Action Day, also known as the day of the Great Calcutta Killings, was the day when All India Muslim League leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah had called for a nationwide protest in 1946. The protests led to large-scale communal violence which took the lives of more than 4,000 people and rendered about 1 lakh people homeless in 72 hours.

Comparing the post-poll violence with this incident clearly carries communal overtures, admitted multiple BJP leaders.

Nadda also accused Mamata of being silent for 36 hours since these incidents broke out and said her “silence speaks about her involvement (in the incidents)”. “She starts her third term with blood on her hands,” he added.

Just a few hours before Nadda made these allegations, Mamata said at a news conference that she had asked police and the administration to take strict action against perpetrators of violence. Previously, on multiple occasions, she has appealed for peace in the state.

Multiple sources in the BJP said the central leadership had decided to blow the post-poll violence out of proportion and profile the victims and attackers communally to portray Mamata as a poor administrator and anti-Hindu leader across the nation.

Although BJP’s Hindutva chant has received a drubbing in Bengal, its national leaders believe polarisation would still work for the rest of the country. “Our leaders strongly believe that the 38 per cent vote we have received in the polls amounting to 77 seats is courtesy polarisation. We have nothing to lose here anymore. If Mamata can be further maligned for her appeasement, the BJP only stands to gain in Bengal and nationally,” a state BJP office-bearer said.

BJP’s intention to align all its resources to focus on communal polarisation became clear when the former Union health minister accused Mamata of appeasement, an allegation the BJP top-rung has repeatedly hurled at her during the poll campaign.“We will demolish the politics of appeasement,” Nadda said. He mentioned that entire villages in Gosaba, Sandeshkhali and Canning in South 24-Parganas had been ransacked. “People there had suffered Amphan last year. This time, they are suffering Mamataphan,” he added, claiming that around 80,000 to 1 lakh people had fled Bengal since May 2. However, there was no corroborative evidence to prove this claim.

Till Tuesday, the BJP had claimed nine of its workers had been killed. On Wednesday, Nadda claimed that the number had risen to 14.

Nadda later met party worker Kamal Mondal in Bhatpara, who lost his mother Shobha Rani Mondal in an alleged attack by suspected Trinamul supporters after announcement of election results on the night of May 2.

Accompanied by local MP Arjun Singh and Purulia MP Jyotirmay Singh Mahato and other local leaders, Nadda expressed condolence on the death of the elderly woman and assured that all-out efforts would be initiated by the party to ensure justice.

At the same time, he told party workers present there that the BJP would highlight these incidents of violence across the country to expose how Trinamul had unleashed terror after winning polls.

Later speaking to media persons, he said: “It appears Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamul leaders are not interested to know that the common people are screaming in fear. To remain in power, they have turned Bengal into a blood-stained state. We are committed to stop this political violence in Bengal. We shall fight democratically.”In Nadia, All India Matua Mahasangha chief and BJP MP Santanu Thakur issued a video appeal to chief minister Mamata Banerjee asking her to get the police to stop political violence in the state. He said if such violence wasn’t controlled immediately, there would be a major breakdown in law and order in the state.

At the same time, he urged BJP workers to resist the attack if it continued unabated. “Please do not sit idle. Be prepared to resist if such inhuman activities continued.”

On the other hand, BJP workers in Nandigram complained that Trinamul-linked goons had either torched or ransacked more than a thousand betel leaf farms. Several such incidents have been reported since Tuesday night. Sunil Mondal, a BJP supporter from Nandigram’s Bheturia, said two of his betel leaf farms had been torched by Trinamul linked goons.

BJP supporters in Nandigram also alleged that in areas where Trinamul had not received enough votes, ration supply to the commoners had been stopped. In a locality called Kanchannagar, a ration dealer named Ananta Mondal said members of a specific political party had asked him not to provide ration to BJP supporters till Thursday.

“They have threatened me and said they’ll later tell me whether I should restart supplying ration to BJP members,” Mondal said.

At multiple villages of Nandigram, people are guarding their localities all night as they had done during the 2007 anti-land acquisition movement.

“For self-defence against the Trinamul we are guarding the villages. Whenever we are sensing a possible attack, we are blowing conches to alert the people,” said local BJP leader Pralay Pal.

Local Trinamul leader Abu Taher refuted allegations of violence and said that such incidents were happening because of BJP’s provocation.

When asked if all these incidents made Bengal a fit case for the implementation of President’s rule, Nadda said it was a matter the administration had to look into and his party would not demand it.

“We had also said previously that even if it is a fit case for President’s Rule we will not demand it. People have given us a mandate to be the opposition in Bengal and we will serve that democratically,” he said.

“We will fight till a conclusive end for the people of Bengal,” Nadda added.