Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, June 15: The filling of nominations for the panchayat elections in West Bengal concluded on Thursday with no respite from violence on the final day with a supporter of the Indian Secular Front (ISF) and activist of Trinamool Congress (TMC) being killed in two separate incidents at Bhangar in South 24 Parganas district.
Later in the day, the Calcutta High Court directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to deploy Central forces for all the 22 districts in the State.
Certain parts of the State have been witnessing violence over the past few days of the filing of nomination papers which began on June 9 and concluded on June 15. Elections to about 63,239 seats at gram panchayat level, 9730 seats at panchayat samities and 928 zilla parishad seats are scheduled on July 8.
Former BJP leader and current Vice-Chairperson of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) Arun Halder on Thursday trained his guns on the State Election Commission (SEC) in West Bengal and the Trinamool Congress-led government over the alleged sustained violence against Scheduled Caste persons.
Halder, at a press conference in New Delhi, said an atmosphere had been created over the last two months — specifically to create terror among Scheduled Caste persons to purportedly keep them from participating in democratic processes. He added that the commission was proceeding to issue a notice to the State Election Commissioner, seeking an explanation. “If the State Election Commissioner cannot stop this violence and safeguard SC people of the State, then they must stop this election process.”
This comes after Halder was denied permission by the State Election Commission to visit the State this week, a day before he was scheduled to leave. The State authorities had cited the Model Code of Conduct to deny permission. However, the NCSC Vice-Chairperson said it was disappointing to see “non-political” visit being stopped in this manner.
“I am a commission member and we report to the President. Even when Trinamool and Congress office-holders were attacked, I visited them and their families. How can anyone claim this to be political,” Halder asked, adding that a no-objection certificate was not issued for his visit despite multiple calls to the SEC office. “It is a matter of grief and great concern that in the last 1.5 months, six persons belonging to Scheduled Caste have been murdered/raped in West Bengal,” he said, adding that he had made spot visits in each of these cases and found the investigation lacking. “The attitude of the authorities was not found sympathetic towards SC populace,” he said.
Bhangar which was on the boil over the past few days, witnessed large scale violence on Thursday with crude bombs being hurled and several vehicles being set on fire. Bijayganj market, not far from the Block Development Office at Bhangar where nomination papers were filed, saw repeated incidents of crude bombs being thrown. Youths with batons and sticks were seen chasing media persons and hurling crude bombs towards them.
Scores of ISF supporters alleged that they were prevented from filing nominations and the area around the BDO was under the control of hundreds of Trinamool supporters. Later, in the evening after the intervention of Calcutta High Court, the ISF supporters were allowed to file their nominations. Bhangar MLA and ISF leader Naushad Siddique said one supporter was killed, whereas Trinamool MLA from the adjoining Canning Purba Assembly seat Saukat Mollah said a Trinamool supporter was killed.
Violence erupted at Kathalbari in Chopra in Uttar Dinjapur districts when a rally of the Left Front and Congress supporters on the way to file nomination papers was fired upon. Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader and Left Front chairperson Biman Bose said two CPI(M) supporters were killed in the violence. There was no confirmation of the claims of deaths by the State administration till late evening. Several persons sustained bullet injuries in the violence and were rushed to nearby State-run hospitals.
Asking the SEC to deploy Central forces in all the districts, a Calcutta High Court Division Bench of Chief Justice T. S. Sivaganam said ever since an order was passed by the court, in the earlier writ petition, no effective steps were taken to identify sensitive areas from law-and-order point of view.
“In the light of submission made by the commission that it may take a couple of days to do so [identify sensitive areas], we are of the view that waiting any longer will cause more damage to the situation and will not aid in protecting the purity of the election process. The writ petition is disposed of by directing the State Election Commission to requisition the deployment of Central forces for all the districts of the State of West Bengal. This direction will be complied with by the State Election Commission within 48 hours of the receipt of server copy of the order,” the Bench directed.
The High Court on Tuesday had directed that Central forces be deployed in sensitive areas which were seven out of 22 districts of the State based on the reports submitted to the court by the commission. The court also directed that all those involved in the election process should display their identity cards prominently.
During the hearing, counsel for the State government and Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee said the government was in favour of requisitioning police from other States such as Odisha, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu and Punjab, but was not keen on deployment of Central forces. Banerjee had informed the court that action was taken in places where violence had occurred in Bhangar, Canning and Bankura.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee broke her silence on the violence and said “nothing was one sided.” She blamed the ISF for the violence at Bhangar and Left parties for the situation in Chopra. The Chief Minister did admit that her party supporters had retaliated at Bhangar on Wednesday and said she was not sure of the situation on Thursday. Ms. Banerjee said she had directed the police to take action and claimed that her party had not given ticket to those indulging in violence.
During the day, leaders of the Left parties led by Bose as well as ISF supporters held demonstrations outside the office of the SEC in the city. The leaders said the deaths were because of the inaction on the part of the commission.