Governor briefs President on Bengal situation; flags ‘anarchy’ in state before media

The meeting comes two days after BJP MP Khagen Murmu and the party’s Siliguri MLA Sankar Ghosh were attacked by a mob during their visit to the flood and landslide-hit Dooars region in the northern part of West Bengal.

Bose said “all that needed to be done to protect” elected representatives would be done in a transparent manner. “These are issues which have to be decided by the competent authorities after much thought. Constitutional options are there, legal options are there, the court is there, Supreme Court judgments are there…based on all these things, a decision has to be taken…I believe, we have a mature democracy where appropriate decisions will be taken in an appropriate manner,” he said.

Bose accused the West Bengal Police of “strangling” what they were supposed to protect (law and order). “What we saw on the streets of Bengal by way of natural calamities and man-made atrocities is something which is shocking…the police are supposed to protect the law and order in the state – but it is like Shakespeare’s Othello. Desdemona thought Othello is the protector. But he strangled her,” he told news agencies.

“This kind of anarchy… near anarchy cannot continue even in isolated pockets of Bengal…Under the Constitution of India, right to life is a fundamental right, but people are scared… of goondas; there is a kind of goondaraj in many places in Bengal,” he said.

“That is something which I have been observing for the last three years. This situation cannot go on…strict action is to be taken. Bengal has to certainly come back to normalcy…people are living in fear,” he said.

Mob attack a result of people’s anger: CM

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said that the Monday’s attack on BJP lawmakers in Jalpaiguri took place as “they never visit their constituencies”.

Blaming the Monday’s attack on “people’s resentment”, the TMC supremo said: “People are angry. After floods and riots, people are usually angry after having lost everything. We are now seeing an outburst among them. They (BJP MK Khagen Murmu and MLA Shankar Ghosh) had gone to those (the affected) villages with a convoy of 30 to 40 cars. Naturally, people became angry. I never visit any area with more than three cars. They should know how to handle such situations.” —ENS