The Bharatiya Janta party (BJP) on Friday came heavily on the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government for the violence in the state ahead of the Panchayat elections. The party blamed TMC for the incidents of violence in Bengal adding that democracy is vanishing here. BJP claimed that its party workers were fatally attacked. Addressing a press conference, BJP spokesperson Sudhashu Trivedi said that the behaviour of the West Bengal government and police is forming a 'very dark chapter in India's democratic and electoral history'.
"The kind of scenes that are being seen in the Panchayat Elections of West Bengal are extremely painful. It is violence all around. Even more disappointing is the insensitivity of the government there," he added.
Trivedi said that in the of Rabindra Sangeet, bomb blasts can be heard now. "The way the state government and police are acting, is a black chapter in the history of democracy and elections in India," he added.
He further said, "Those saying that democracy is almost finished in India, I want to ask them a categorical question. My question is that the level of violence which is being witnessed in West Bengal displays what? That democracy is flourishing or vanishing?"
Alleging that opposition is mum on the entire issue, he said, "I want to ask all the opposition parties - the violence-injured form of democracy which is visible in West Bengal today...The one who used to talk about Maa, Mati, Manus… Today there are forces rising against Mother India, the soil is drenched in blood and humanity seems to be completely distressed and tarnished… Even looking at her, No opposition party is seeing any problem."
Earlier on Thursday, West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose expressed concern over the pre-poll violence in the run-up to the panchayat elections in the state. In a statement issued by the Raj Bhavan, Bose said that he was "shocked" at the increasing death toll in Bengal due to poll-related violence. The West Bengal panchayat elections are scheduled on July 8.