Mamta government faces flak over Malda riots

#Bengalburning trends on twitter after Malda violence

Violence erupted in Kaliachak on January 3 after a lakh-strong gathering of Muslim activists gathered to protest against alleged blasphemous comments by an activist of the right-wing Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha, who is now in a Lucknow jail. The protesters, some of whom were allegedly armed, ransacked a Border Security Force jeep, attacked a police station and burnt cars. There were also reports of firing. The police say the violence started after the BSF jeep got stuck in a jam on the highway because of the procession.

3 member BJP team sent back from Malda

Justifying the move to send a three-member party committee to Malda to take stock of the ground situation, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday launched a blistering attack on the Mamata Banerjee government and alleged that her administration is sleeping and keeping a blind eye to the untoward incidents taking place in the state.

Posing five questions to the TMC regime in West Bengal, BJP leader Siddharth Nath Singh said that the Kalechak incident was an issue of national security as per his party. The BJP has accused the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress of protecting those behind the violence. The party alleges that the Kaliachak police station was targeted by people who wanted to burn down crime records. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said the violence was a criminal and not a communal incident.

Ruling party lawmaker Derek O’Brien alleged that the BJP leaders were “going to fan the fire” in Malda and polarize voters. “It is a poor attempt by the BJP to communalise a criminal incident with 100 days to go till assembly polls. We are not getting sucked into the narrative,”said O’brien.