Mamata Banerjee orders judicial probe into Basirhat riots
Meanwhile, the three MPs, Meenakshi Lekhi, Om Mathur and Satyapal Singh, were stopped from visiting Basirhat.
Kolkata: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday ordered a judicial enquiry at Basirhat—Baduria in North 24 Parganas, which has been rocked by communal violence over a controversial Facebook post for the last few days. The judicial commission will be led by former justice of Calcutta high court Soumitra Pal.
"The judicial commission will find out who are the persons responsible for the violence and strong action will be taken against the perpetrators as per law. The administrative input will be handed over to the commission, who will conduct an impartial enquiry," Ms Banerjee said. Meanwhile, a BJP central team of three MPs were stopped by the police at Michaelnagar near the Kolkata airport and they were detained when they tried to forcibly pass by the police barricade.
Ms Banerjee, at a press conference in the state secreteriat Nabanna, blamed that the Centre, in a conspiracy, had been getting foreign hands to cause unrest in the bordering areas. "The border areas are being disturbed by foreign hands having good relations with BJP. Bengal shares its border with a number of countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and the North East. A conspiracy is being hatched by the ruling party at the Centre to cause unrest in the bordering states," she said.
The Trinamul Congress supremo lashed out at the BJP-led government at the Centre, accusing it of using morphed images from Bhojpuri movies and also those of violence in Kumilla (Bangladesh) to incite violence in Basirhat- Baduria.
"Kashmir is burning. Farmers are being killed in Madhya Pradesh. The Centre has failed miserably in curbing violence. Facebook is being misused to spread canards and rumours against Bengal. It is Fakebook that is being run in the name of Facebook," she said.
These comments come after Haryana BJP leader Vijeta Malik expressed her "concern for Hindus in West Bengal" by sharing an image of the Bhojpuri movie Aurat Khilona Nahi. "Everything is being done with the objective of vendetta as we are raising our voices against the Centre. Whenever there is a protest, Central agencies like the CBI, ED, NIA and Income Tax are being used. Demonetisation is a big corruption, GST is also the same. The central government is weakening the federal structure. Is there a super emergency in the country?" the chief minister wondered.
Meanwhile, the three MPs, Meenakshi Lekhi, Om Mathur and Satyapal Singh, were stopped from visiting Basirhat. Police officers cited prohibitory orders in different parts of Basirhat sub-division to prevent Ms Lekhi’s team from proceeding to the areas scarred by violence. When they tried to drive past the barricade, they were detained.