A BJP fact-finding team sent by party chief J P Nadda to West Bengal to look into the incidents of violence during the recent three-tier panchayat polls in the state has suggested that “all the cases should be investigated by CBI under the monitoring of the Calcutta High Court” and that all the “bomb blast cases need to be referred to NIA for investigation”. Alleging that a “sickening symbol of shameful democracy” was witnessed during the West Bengal rural elections, the five-member team, led by senior BJP leader and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, said in its report that it was “shocking that Bengal is decaying further and further and to remain in brute power at any cost, Mamta Banerjee’s government aided and abetted by collusive administration and police has completely killed the essence of democracy”. The central BJP panel, which included Satya Pal Singh, Rekha Verma and Rajdeep Roy (all Lok Sabha MPs) and Brij Lal (Rajya Sabha MP) as its members, submitted its 26-page report to Nadda Wednesday. The Bengal panchayat polls held on July 8 was marred by widespread violence, which resulted in the killings of many political workers, and alleged electoral malpractices that involved even looting of ballot boxes and destruction of ballot papers. It is necessary for the country to know that “democracy has ended in Bengal”, Prasad alleged while talking to reporters. “The state government’s arrogance and utter disrespect for democratic processes are dismaying. The BJP will continue to fight for the people’s voice in West Bengal in a democratic way,” Nadda said after receiving the report. Prasad claimed that an “overpowering fear” became the hallmark of these polls and cited several incidents of violence, including killings, and the suffering of the families targeted for political reasons. The team along with state BJP workers visited during July 12-14 the places that were worst affected by the poll violence, which included Hingalgung, Swaroopkathi in North 24 Parganas district, Basanti in South 24 Parganas district, and Coochbehar district. The BJP workers and supporters there alleged, according to the team's report, that the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) activists had “forcibly stopped non-TMC candidates, especially BJP candidates from filing nominations, (gave) threats to those who managed to file nominations, attacked the candidates and their supporters” and that “there was a rain of crude bombs all over West Bengal, which was available as a tradable commodity”. “During the course of the visit, many women met and begged Committee members to save them as they are threatened by TMC workers that a 'new khela' will take place,” the report said. There was “rampant abuse” of state power in the panchayat polls, the report, seen by The Indian Express, charged. “In the course of our visit, we repeatedly heard complaints that list of sensitive booths were not made available to central paramilitary forces deployed as per order of High Court of Calcutta in spite of demand and no state administration permitted their adequate and appropriate deployment,” it stated. The report pointed out that more than 50 people have lost their lives in the Bengal rural poll violence so far. Rejecting the BJP team's report, TMC leader and Bengal Minister Shashi Panja said, "The BJP fact-finding team spoke a bunch of lies in New Delhi. They are trying to tarnish the image of Bengal. The team is visiting Bengal but not Manipur. We saw the press conference of Ravi Shankar Prasad and other team members on Bengal. But none of them reached Manipur.” Panja also said, “Parliament is on but there has been no statement by the Prime Minister on Manipur, even though whole India is looking at PM for it. Clearly, they are trying to divert from the issue. Bengal knows about their fake videos. So, stop maligning Bengal and look at Manipur." (With inputs from ENS Kolkata)
