Bengal MPs To Meet PM Modi On Wednesday To Discuss Birbhum, Law And Order
The BJP MPs from Bengal are expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi over breakfast on Wednesday to discuss the law an order situation in Bengal in the aftermath of the massacre in Birbhum. The ruckus that followed in the Bengal assembly will also be discussed, sources said.
The meeting, sources said, will take place at PM Modi’s house in New Delhi. The Prime Minister has already condemned the Birbhum killings, underscoring the need for the Mamata Banerjee government to catch the culprits.
Six women and two children — mostly of members of a single family — were beaten and burnt alive by a mob at the Bogtui village near Birbhum’s Rampurhat town last week.
The attack was allegedly retaliation to the murder of a local Trinamool Congress leader, Bhadu Sheikh, who died in a bomb attack. Around 20 people have been arrested in the case.
The BJP, which lost face hugely after the Mamata Banerjee government’s landslide victory in Bengal last year, has been targeting the state government since the Birbhum killings.
The party has demanded the resignation of Mamata Banerjee, who, with last year’s victory, has made her national ambitions clear. The BJP has argued that the Birbhum incident is the latest in a long list of deadly political violence in Bengal that has been takin place since the Trinamol came to power a decade ago.
Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari has called for President’s Rule in the state, pointing out that Ms Banerjee, who holds the home portfolio, is directly responsible for law and order.
The state party leaders earlier met Union home minister Amit Shah and asked the ministry to look into the matter. The party had also sent a fact-finding team to the state.
The Congress has also backed the call for President’s Rule, claiming that Ms Banerjee has failed to administer the state.
The matter set off fisticuffs between leaders of the the BJP and the ruling Trinamool Congress in the Bengal assembly today and seven BJP MLAs were admitted to the Apollo Hospital in Kolkata for a medical check-up.
A Trinamool MLA alleged that the BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, who is also the Leader of the Opposition, had punched him. The BJP countered with similar allegations.