New Delhi: Monday’s violence in Barrackpore, West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, has raised significant concern, especially since it occurred ahead of PM Modi’s public rally.
The clashes between supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Trinamool Congress have led to arrests, raising political temperatures ahead of Wednesday’s second round of Assembly elections in the state.
The incident involved crude bombs being thrown at the residence of Bharatiya Janata Party nominee for Bhatpara constituency, Pawan Kumar Singh, following a skirmish.
The situation escalated as both parties engaged in stone-throwing and physical fights, with local police facing difficulties in controlling the situation.
Pawan has been defending the seat he won twice since the 2019 by-election, when his father, Arjun Singh, vacated the seat to contest the Barrackpur Lok Sabha constituency.
The senior Singh went on to defeat Trinamool Congress candidate Dinesh Trivedi, who has since joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Trivedi has recently been appointed High Commissioner to Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, Arjun lost the subsequent Parliamentary poll in 2024.
He is now contesting from the Noapara Assembly seat in the same area.
Known to have been a confidante of the now-deceased Mukul Roy, a founding member of the Trinamool Congress, Arjun wields considerable influence in the neighbourhood.
From Congress to Trinamool, he has often switched sides with the Bharatiya Janata Party and the state’s current ruling party.
Raju Bhattacharjee, a senior journalist and a resident of Barrackpore, said that election-related violence in Barrackpore, especially in Bhatpara, has been a regular phenomenon around poll time.
He added that volatility has been part of polling in this area, and that skirmishes are frequent, but the fiercest and longest-running violence he has witnessed was in 2019.
In May 2019, when the Bhatpara Assembly constituency went for a by-election on the same day as the final Lok Sabha phase, violence erupted between Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party supporters.
It was marked by a series of clashes between rival groups, leading to the deaths of two activists and injuries to several others.
The violence was attributed to political tensions and communal conflicts, with both the major political parties of the state involved in the clashes.
The situation escalated to the point where the police had to resort to force to restore order, and prohibitory orders were imposed in the affected areas.
The violence resulted from the region’s political dynamics, with both parties blaming each other for the unrest.
The Bhatpara riots were a significant event in the history of communal conflict in West Bengal, highlighting the ongoing issues of identity and politics in the area.
Bharatiya Janata Party leaders claimed that Trinamool Congress candidate Madan Mitra triggered the violence, while the ruling party accused it, especially Arjun Singh, of orchestrating the clashes.
In related bomb-hurling incidents, police opened fire to control the mob, killing a street food vendor.
The situation continued till after the polls.
There were reports of other deaths, while several people were injured.
Earlier, a Ram Navami procession in 2018 in nearby Kankinara triggered clashes between Hindu and Muslim residents, which local activists and residents say had spilled into the 2019 election violence.
Bhattacharjee explained that there were several jute mills and some cotton mills once upon a time, which together comprised some two-thirds of what was the industrial belt.
He stated that settlements came up, usually segregated along labour lines, with migrants mainly from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh settling here.
He added that, though many of the mills have since shut shop, the area around here is said to be the most densely populated in the world.
Many of the residents are divided along party lines, owing allegiance to one local leader or another.
With Election Commission strictures and security forces enforcing strict supervision, the 2021 Assembly election was comparatively peaceful, and there were almost negligible incidents in the 2024 Parliamentary poll.
(IANS)
