A local TMC leader was allegedly hacked to death in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district, triggering political tension ahead of the assembly elections.
Apart from Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, the Barasat MP, those attending the meeting included TMC MLAs Anisur Rahaman Biswas of Deganga, Bina Mondal of Swarupnagar, Mohammad Abdul Matin of Haroa and three more legislators from the Basirhat subdivision of North 24 Parganas district.
In a strategic move for the upcoming West Bengal elections, the BJP has announced its first candidate list, highlighted by Suvendu Adhikari challenging Mamata Banerjee in both Nandigram and Bhabanipur.
'Mamata needs to address the anger and resentment among various sections of the Hindu community because low-scale communal violence has always paid richer electoral dividends for the BJP.'
Over one crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise to decide the political fate of 342 candidates.
The amended Act has put the entire Northeast region and West Bengal on the boil as people fear that it might exacerbate the problem of illegal immigration.
Protests against ration shop owners and ration dealers continued in West Bengal on Tuesday, with several ration shops being ransacked and foodgrains being looted across the state. A mob set ablaze the house of a ration dealer who allegedly sold ration items in the open market instead of distributing it to ration card holders at Deganga in north 24 Pargana district. When a police contingent arrived in the area, agitated locals hurled stones at it, injuring 5 policemen.
The West Bengal government said the situation was under control in Baduria, Swarupnagar, Deganga and Basirhat, which had witnessed violence. Prohibitory orders are in force there. No untoward incident was reported.
Schools, shops, markets and business establishments remained shut in and around Baduria, including Keosha market, Banshtala, Ramchandrapur and Tentulia, where prohibitory orders are in force.
Muslims across the country have joined the agitation, apprehending that the move could be a precursor to a country-wide NRC.
"Fresh tension brewed up at Basirhat town and station area after the communal clashes in Baduria in the district. Police had to resort to cane charge and teargas shells to disperse unruly crowd," a senior police officer said.
