‘Concerned’ PM calls guv on state violence – Times of India

Kolkata: PM Narendra Modi on Tuesday called up state governor Jagdeep Dhankhar to enquire about the post-poll violence in Bengal.
“PM called and expressed… concern at the worrisome law-and-order situation. I share the grave concerns,” Dhankhar later tweeted.
The BJP claimed nine workers had been killed in Bengal since Sunday’s announcement of election results. “The Trinamool is full of intolerance. I have never seen such post-poll violence,” BJP national president J P Nadda said.
Former RS MP and losing Tarakeswar candidate Swapan Dasgupta tweeted “reports of molestation or worse of women” and tagged Union home minister Amit Shah. But Birbhum SP Nagendranath Tripathi denied “any instance of rape”. “There have been incidents of violence and arson and every case is being investigated,” he said. “I have alerted everyone that it was fake news”.
Kolkata cops have registered a murder case in the Beliaghata incident in which 30-year-old BJP trade union leader Abhijit Sarkar was killed on Sunday night. Nadda visited the family on Tuesday.
The Congress and CPM, too, slammed the post-poll violence. Congress Bengal minder Jitin Prasada called it “unacceptable” and CPM secretary Sitaram Yechury questioned why the Trinamool had “unleashed such mayhem”.
A National Commission for Women team, headed by chairperson Rekha Sharma, will be visiting Nandigram to probe allegations of violence against women. A National Human Rights Commission team, too, will be visiting the state.
Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday termed BJP’s allegations of violence as “propaganda” and said she had appealed for “peace and calm” and all her party workers had been told to remain at home.
Iterating her claim that BJP was trying to “create communal riots”, Banerjee told a private television channel: “They are trying to create confusion with fake videos.”
Hooghly police said they were questioning two persons for possible involvement in the murder of Gopal Patra. Of the other four deaths, a 54-year-old Trinamool worker was stabbed to death in East Burdwan while returning home late on Monday.
Trinamool’s Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien said: “BJP IT cell could have given trolls some time off after results. All cases on social media are BJP intra-party fights. There are three BJP factions in Bengal and they hate each other.”
Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra questioned the veracity of some social media posts by senior BJP leaders. “One leader posted claiming 1,000 families in Nanoor where out on the streets. Did he mean 40,000 people were out on the streets and none saw? It is a fake news factory. During elections, they insinuated against Bengal by their infiltrator, Kashmir and Rohingya barbs. But people voted for TMC, for they could see the difference between reality and fiction,” she said.
Former Union minister and Trinamool vice-president Yashwant Sinha said: “Mamata has not even been sworn in yet, the BJP has already started its political machinations by holding nationwide dharna against her. What about Covid, my dear chaps? Or even that does not matter before your politics. Shame, shame.”