In the lead-up to the penultimate phase of the Lok Sabha elections, a female BJP operative met a grim end in Nandigram, nestled in West Bengal’s Purba Medinipur district. This tragic event ignited widespread dissent among BJP affiliates on Thursday. Nandigram, a locale within the Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency and a stronghold of Bengal’s BJP Leader of Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, is slated for polls on May 25.
The BJP loyalists surged onto the thoroughfares, incinerating tires, obstructing roads with felled trees, and igniting them. Heightened security measures were promptly enacted, with the deployment of Rapid Action Force, Central Forces, and state police, according to The Indian Express.
Accusations flew as BJP supporters claimed TMC-aligned miscreants perpetrated the slaying of 38-year-old Rathibala Arhi from Sonachura village and left seven others injured. Law enforcement reported that Arhi succumbed and several others were wounded when unidentified, armed motorbike assailants launched an attack late Wednesday night.
“Arhi, along with several other party stalwarts, was tasked with guarding a local polling booth post-campaign cessation. TMC-backed criminals assaulted them. She was slain and others grievously injured,” divulged BJP’s district general secretary Meghnadh Paul to PTI.
Of the seven reported injured, one individual’s condition was critical, necessitating transfer to a hospital in Kolkata, he disclosed.
The incident has catalyzed a political maelstrom within the state, with the BJP pointing fingers at the ruling TMC for orchestrating the attack. Conversely, the TMC rebuffed these allegations, attributing the violence to internecine strife within the BJP, The Indian Express reports.
TMC luminary Santanu Sen asserted that the incident stemmed from BJP infighting in Nandigram. “Nandigram harbors two BJP factions. The upcoming vote on the 25th has them aware of an impending defeat by TMC. This premeditated incident is their attempt to tarnish TMC’s image,” he stated.
On his social media platform X, Adhikari alluded to TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee’s recent public address in the area, alleging, “The bloodshed was a direct consequence of the nephew’s incitement in Nandigram yesterday. The brutal murder was orchestrated by the Trinamool, realizing their imminent defeat. The perpetrators’ hands do not tremble before butchering a woman.”
“The BJP will pursue this to its conclusion, seek retribution through legal channels, and respond via democratic means,” he vowed.
