Dinajpur deaths: BJP calls state bandh September 26

Kolkata: Mounting pressure on the Trinamul Congress government the BJP has called a 12-hour bandh in the state on September 26 to protest the death of the two students who were killed allegedly in police firing during a violence over the teachers’ recuritment at Daribhit High School in Islampur of South Dinajpur recently. It also demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the incident.

State BJP president Dilip Ghosh made the announcement of the bandh while addressing a rally in the district on Saturday. Later BJP leader Pratap Banerjee said at state party headquarters, “The bandh is called calling off the ‘March to Nabanna’ programme on September 26. We also demand a CBI probe in the two students’ killings so that those who are guilty get punishment.”

Soon after the BJP’s announcement of the bandh chief minister Mamata Banerjee who is in Milan made it clear that under no circumstances the bandh would be allowed. “I am hearing that some people have called a bandh in our state. We will not allow anyone to observe bandh. Anyone who tries to impose the bandh forcibly, will face action,” she said.

The chief minister said students should concentrate on their studies and not on who are appointed teachers. “It is the job of the governing body or the school committee to look into such matters. Even we (the state government) do not interfere into it. You (students) are opposing when a Urdu teacher is appointed but not when teachers of other subjects are appointed.

Countering the chief minister’s warning senior BJP leader Mukul Roy said, “The bandh will certainly be observed. Once Ms Banerjee had observed a bandh for 36 hours at a stretch. Now she is alleging that we are playing with fire. She is not correct. It is Ms Banerjee who is playing with fire. The way the violence is unfolding in West Bengal, we can see democracy is dying a pathetic death. We want CBI inquiry into the matter.”

Alongwith female BJP leader Locket Chatterjee he is expected to visit the two victims’ families at Islampur on Sunday. CPI(M) MLA Sujan Chakraborty and Siliguri Mayor Ask Bhattachajee met the two families during the day. Meanwhile the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has demanded an apology from education minister Partha Chatterjee for his comments of a conspiracy by the BJP and RSS in the firing and the killings of the two students.

It also threatened to take legal action against him if he would not apologise. RSS (South Bengal) general secretary Jishnu Bose said, “The education minister should apologise within 24 hours otherwise we will take legal action against him. He took our organisation’s name to defame it. Two innocent children were killed. But the Trinamul are politicising the issue and defaming our organisation by saying such things.”

He added, “Mere allegations will not suffice. They will have to prove their allegations. Else they will face legal action which we are planning. We also demand a CBI investigation to unravel who opened fire at the students.”