Won’t Visit: Bengal as MHA Summons 2 Officers Over Nadda ‘Attack’
Nadda’s convoy was allegedly attacked with stones and bricks, while on the way to Diamond Harbour in West Bengal.
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West Bengal Chief Secretary and Director General of Police will not be visiting Delhi on Monday, 14 December, the state government wrote to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), after the latter summoned them over the alleged attack on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Chief JP Nadda’s convoy, reported news agency PTI.
The MHA summoned them to discuss the alleged attack on and the law and order situation in the state, PTI reported on Friday, 11 December.
In his letter to Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, WB Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay wrote:
Meanwhile, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar has submitted his report on law and order in the state, which Home Minister Amit Shah had asked for on Thursday, hours after the alleged attack on Nadda's convoy, NDTV reported.
The Centre had sought a report from the West Bengal governor on the law and order situation in the state after the Union home secretary wrote to the state chief secretary regarding the incident, government sources cited by ANI said on Thursday.
Addressing the media on Friday, Governor Dhankar slammed CM Banerjee over the attack, saying, “The Chief Minister has to follow the Constitution. She cannot depart from its paths. The law and order situation in the state has been continuously worsening for long.”
“The events that happened yesterday are most unfortunate. They are a slur on our democratic fabric,” he added, according to ANI.
The governor also reportedly said that he had sent a report to the central government about the “extremely disturbing developments that do not augur well for democratic values”.
West Bengal Suffering From Lawlessness: JP Nadda
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Nadda said that West Bengal is suffering from lawlessness, anarchy, and intolerance, hours after his convoy was allegedly attacked with stones and bricks, while on the way to Diamond Harbour in the state's South 24 Parganas district.
"The incident that happened today shows lawlessness, anarchy and intolerance in the state. There is no place for political debate here," Nadda was quoted as saying by news agency ANI, claiming that eight people were injured in the attack on Thursday.
State Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, on the other hand, alleged that neither the chief secretary nor the DGP came with any update regarding the attack on the convoy. "Their continued non responsive stance signals failure of constitutional machinery in the State [sic]," he tweeted.
West Bengal Policy Deny Claims
The cars of BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh were also allegedly damaged in the attack on Thursday.
However, the West Bengal police took to Twitter to deny the claims made by BJP, saying that nothing happened to Nadda’s convoy.
“Few bystanders at Debipur, Falta PS, Diamond Harbour PD, sporadically and suddenly threw stones towards vehicles trailing long behind his convoy,” the police wrote on Twitter, adding that the matter was being investigated to “find out actual happenings”.
'Have Reached for the Meeting Due to Maa Durga’s Grace’
“There isn't a car in our convoy which was not attacked. I am safe because I was travelling in a bulletproof car. This state of lawlessness and intolerance in West Bengal has to end,” said Nadda at a meeting of party workers in South 24 Parganas, minutes after the alleged attack, reported ANI.
Nadda also claimed that BJP leaders Mukul Roy and Kailash Vijayvargiya were injured in the attack, calling it “a shame on democracy”.
"If I have reached here for the meeting, it's due to Maa Durga's grace... The days of Mamata Banerjee government are numbered, we have to defeat this 'goonda raj'...," Nadda was further quoted as saying by PTI.
“I have been injured in this attack. The party president's car was also attacked. We strongly condemn it. In the presence of police, goons attacked us. It felt as if we were not in our own country,” Vijayvargiya said at the meeting, according to ANI. He also took to Twitter to share a video of the attack.
“Trinamool workers sporting party flags and armed with lathis attacked our convoy at multiple places. Stones and bricks were hurled by TMC workers. Several cars have sustained damage. Police were mute spectators in some places and missing elsewhere,” Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh said, talking to the media soon after the attack on Thursday.
Lapse in Security, Claims Dilip Ghosh
Earlier in the day, Ghosh had claimed that there has been a lapse in the security arrangement during Nadda's visit to the state on Wednesday.
Ghosh also wrote a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah regarding the same. In the letter, Ghosh stated that “there were serious security lapses on security arrangements, purportedly due to negligence and/or casual approach of State Department Police”.
“There was no presence of police at his events yesterday. I have written to Home Minister Amit Shah and administration,” ANI quoted Ghosh as saying.
Diamond Harbour, where the attack allegedly happened, is the Lok Sabha constituency of Mamata Banerjee's nephew and TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee.
Nadda is in West Bengal to participate in an outreach campaign, taken up ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections.
(With inputs from ANI, The Indian Express)
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