BJP, CPM MPs barred from visiting Kaliachak

Protests as Malda cops keep leaders out

BJP and CPI(M) MPs were stopped visiting violence-hit Kailachak by the Malda district administration Monday. A three-member BJP MP team comprising S.S. Ahluwalia, Bhupendra Yadav and Ram Vilas Vedanti was stopped and asked to go back to Kolkata from Malda station in the morning, while CPI(M) MP Mohammad Salim was not given permission to visit Kaliachak in the evening. This has fuelled anger among BJP MPs, who vowed to take up the matter with Union home minister Rajnath Singh and President Pranab Mukherjee, and to demand an inquiry on the violence. On January 3, a protest rally had turned violent in Malda’s Kailachak area, prompting a mob to torch police vehicles and a police station.

A state BJP delegation led by MLA Samik Bhattacharya was first stopped and detained by the police when they tried to visit the area on January 6. The BJP had sought the intervention of governor K.N. Tripathi, asking him to send a report to the home ministry. After the indcident on Monday, however, the BJP directly hit out at the ruling Trinamul Congress in the state, severely criticised the state government for denying permission to its MPs to visit Kailachak.

“The district administration said we cannot go there as Section 144 CrPC had been imposed. We are not here to incite or instigate anyone. We are law-abiding citizens and senior MPs, but the officials said we are public figures and our appearance will create problems, and might deteriorate the law and order situation, BJP MP S.S.

Ahluwalia said after returning to Howrah Station from Malda. After reaching Malda Town by Gour Express, the BJP MPs had to stay in the VIP lounge of the station for nearly three hours before returning by Shatabdi Express.

Hours later CPI(M) MP Mohammad Salim was also not allowed to visit Kaliachak. “I was going to Kaliachak, it was a pre-planned visit. But all of a sudden a huge police contingent stopped us at Amriti area of Malda, which is 35 km from Kaliachak. I told them being an MP it was my duty to talk to the people. But they refused to listen to me. The administration is trying to hide something and that is why they are stopping all other political parties,” Mr Salim said

Trinamul Congress MP and party spokesman Derek O’Brien hit back at the BJP, accusing the party of trying to “communalise” the incident. Asserting that it was a “criminal” incident which had been “tactfully” handled so far, Mr O’Brien said: “This was a criminal issue but the BJP and RSS, as is their strategy, tried to turn it into a

communal issue. They did this by trending hashtags on Twitter, sharing year-old photographs and posting irresponsible tweets with the help of their social media army. The BJP team did not come here this morning for a fact-finding mission... They came here to fuel communal tensions.”

In New Delhi, the BJP’s state co-incharge Siddharth Nath Singh accused chief minister Mamata Banerjee of pursuing “vote bank” politics. He said the protest was held more than a month after those “condemnable” remarks were made and claimed it was not a spontaneous event but a planned action. Posing five questions to Ms Banerjee on the incident, he claimed Malda had become a major hub of the fake currency racket and opium smuggling, but the TMC government was not taking any action due to its votebank politics.

As the three-member BJP team was not allowed to visit Malda, Mr Singh said the “dictatorial” state government had compassion for criminals. Rejecting the government’s explanation on the January 3 Malda violence, he said the purpose was to destroy records allegedly related to a fake currency racket that were kept in a police station.