BJP targets Trinamool Congress for post-poll violence in West Bengal
Kolkata/New Delhi: BJP president J P Nadda drew a parallel between the post-poll result violence in West Bengal with the bloodshed during India's Partition, while his colleagues compared the TMC with Nazis, as the saffron party's leaders protested in different cities on Tuesday against attacks targeting its workers in the state.
Nadda arrived in West Bengal to express solidarity with BJP workers amid several incidents of violence and arson in which, the party alleges, six of its members have been killed.
The BJP has blamed the Trinamool Congress (TMC) for the violence, saying its workers and sympathisers are targeting rivals after its supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee led it to a massive victory in the state assembly polls.
Nadda, who is on a two-day visit to the state, said his party's workers are facing violent attacks.
"We are committed to democratically fight this ideological battle and the activities of the TMC, which is full of intolerance," he told reporters at the NSC Bose International Airport in Kolkata.
Nadda added, "I had heard of the immense atrocities committed during the Partition, but I have never seen such post-poll violence that is occurring in West Bengal after the declaration of election results (on May 2)."
He later met families of several BJP workers who were targeted in the violence.
The BJP chief will also visit the homes of party workers who were allegedly killed in attacks in the South 24 Parganas district.
"We want to give this message that crores of BJP workers across the country are with them," he said, asking party workers in the state to democratically fight the "savagery".
The BJP has claimed that at least six of its workers and supporters, including a woman, were killed in violence allegedly unleashed by the TMC.
The TMC has claimed that its three supporters have been killed in violent incidents.
Members of other parties, including the Left and the Congress, have also attacked the TMC for the violence in the state, which they said has been aimed at their members and sympathisers as well.
The TMC has denied the charges.
Banerjee had earlier asked people to show restraint and not be involved in any form of violence.
In the national capital, the BJP at a virtual conference said West Bengal is "burning because of state-sponsored violence".
Its spokesperson Sambit Patra said the TMC should have been gracious after winning the polls and termed the violence as painful and saddening.
Speaking at the conference, BJP leader and candidate in the West Bengal assembly polls, Anirban Ganguly, said people who voted for the TMC in Bengal should ask if what is happening in the state is right.
"Whatever the TMC is doing is very close to Nazi Germany's fascism. This is a fascist government. Such incidents do not take place in a democratic government," Ganguly said and asked where are the political leaders of other opposition parties and why are they silent about this.
The Delhi BJP staged a protest here with several of MPs, including Meenakshi Lekhi and Ramesh Bidhuri, and MLAs courting arrest, the party said in a statement.
Union Minister Giriraj Singh and Bihar BJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal were among those who protested in Patna.
The BJP has announced a nationwide protests on Wednesday against the violence in West Bengal.
