Trinamool Congress and CPI(M) erupted in a big way condemning Thursday’s Tinsukia killings with Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday turning her social media display picture black as a mark of solidarity with the Assam victims’ families and lambasting the BJP for injecting fear in every household of the country.
Five people of Bengali community were brutally gunned down by unknown assailants at Tinsukia on Thursday evening.
While the CPI(M) took out a rally on Friday evening TMC MP and Abhishek Banerjee led a huge rally in the noon demanding Assam Chief Minister’ Sarbanand Sonwal’s resignation for “presiding over a Government of killers” and failing to protect the lives of innocent, hapless people.
The TMC leaders tweeted “in solidarity, on Protest day to condemn the brutal killings of Bengalis by a State ruled by the BJP we are turning out Twitter/FB DPs into black,” adding street protests would continue throughout Bengal even as an embarrassed BJP leadership wondered why the Trinamool and the Left were making an issue out of the incident as “the Assam Government has taken prompt action over the issue.”
Calling the Thursday’s killings as an “extension of Assam Government’s NRC drive” the Bengal Chief Minister said “the people who were killed on Thursday belong to the poorest of the poor section of the society” wondering whether the killings were a direct fallout of the animosity provoked by the NRC drive in that State.
The BJP was driving out the Biharis from Gujarat, Bengalis and UP wallahs from Assam so that it had become difficult to survive peacefully in one’s own country, Banerjee alleged saying her party would always remain by the side of the victims of such mass extraditions.
“Under this Government (in Centre) India is in the grip of fear. Every household is in fear. There is fear of demonetisation, there is fear of murder like the one happened in Tinsukia, the fear of being ejected in the name of NRC, the fear of central Agencies,” Banerjee said.
Attacking the BJP for creating a rift among the people of the country the Chief Minister said those who were talking about nationalism and unity of the country were actually trying to divide its citizens along the lines of religion, caste, language.
Her nephew and party MP Abhishek Banerjee who led the Friday’s rally too demanded immediate halt in persecution of Bengalis in Assam saying “there is a clear BJP hand in the Assam killings. The fact of the matter is that the Chief Minister of that State who had led the NRC movement should immediately resign for failing to protect the lives of the innocent citizens.”
CPI(M) which also took out an impressive rally on Friday evening said the party would continue to carry out protest movements against the BJP’s divisive politics. “Ever since the BJP has come to power either in Delhi or in Assam or anywhere the places concerned have seen killings like this. These are no ordinary political murders but they contain communal and sectarian venom which may have far reaching effect,” CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakrabarty said.