Bengal: BJP Forms Committee Of Women MPs To Visit Violence-Hit Areas, Submit Report On 'Atrocities'

Bengal Panchayat poll violence: A committee of women BJP MPs will visit areas affected by the violence and particularly speak to women victims.

The committee constituted by BJP national President JP Nadda will submit its report on Bengal Panchayat Election violence to him.

Source : PTI

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday constituted a five-member committee comprising of the party's women MPs to visit violence-affected areas in West Bengal and submit a report on alleged atrocities committed against women in the state during the violence that ensued during the Panchayat Election period. The parliamentarians in the committee include Convenor Saroj Pandey, Rama Devi, Aparajita Sarangi, Kavita Patidar, and Sandhya Ray.

The committee constituted by BJP national President JP Nadda will submit its report to him, as stated by a release. It mentioned that the members will visit areas affected by the violence and particularly speak to women victims.

भाजपा राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष श्री @JPNadda ने पश्चिम बंगाल के पंचायत चुनावों में महिलाओं पर हुए अत्याचार एवं व्यापक पैमाने पर हुई हिंसा की जांच के लिए पार्टी की महिला सांसदों की एक जांच समिति का गठन किया है। pic.twitter.com/BoQjSsw0Xs

— BJP (@BJP4India) July 17, 2023

Last week, the Leader of Opposition in West Bengal, BJP's Suvendu Adhikari, on Saturday alleged that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee did nothing to control the clashes that broke out during the panchayat polls, prompting a retort from the ruling TMC that claimed that the BJP and its leaders were trying to create instability in the state.

CM Mamata's mentee-turned-opponent visited houses of BJP workers in Howrah district's Amta that he alleged were attacked during the civic elections.

He demanded the arrest of local officials for allegedly failing to provide security to those attacked and said that he would take the victims to the Calcutta High Court.

"Mamata Banerjee is feigning ignorance about these incidents. I will not rest till she faces the music. Her party hatched the conspiracy to teach BJP workers a lesson for daring to fight its terror and intimidation," he said, as quoted by news agency PTI.

"The TMC had resorted to the same terror tactics after the 2021 assembly polls. I will ensure that TMC supporters do not get away by committing such gross offences," he added.

Adhikari also visited Baruipur in South 24 Parganas district to meet his party workers, who he said were also victims of violence. "The TMC's jungle raj in West Bengal will soon come to an end," he remarked.

Countering the allegations, the TMC said that Adhikari is behind a diabolical political conspiracy against the democratically-elected government in the state.

"Suvendu has no support among the people. The only thing he knows is to rush to the court," TMC Rajya Sabha MP Santanu Sen told PTI.

He said this panchayat election witnessed the highest number of nominations filed by opposition parties and accused Adhikari and other leaders of the BJP are peddling lies to create instability in the state.

In the local body polls, the ruling Trinamool Congress steamrolled to a massive victory, bagging all zila parishads and leaving its rivals trailing way behind. The TMC won all 20 Zila Parishads in the three-tier panchayat system, winning a straight 880 seats, while its nearest rival BJP won 31 seats out of 928 seats. The Congress-Left Front alliance won 15 seats while others won 2 remaining seats.

Polling was held for 73,887 seats in zilla parishads, panchayat samitis, and gram panchayats at 339 venues across 22 districts of the state. Altogether 2.06 lakh candidates were in the fray. According to experts, the 2023 panchayat elections reflected the scenes of 2018 when there was widespread violence and booth capturing.