NEW DELHI – A gun battle between supporters of India’s ruling right-wingparty and a regional rival has killed four people in West Bengal, policesaid Sunday, as violence raged in the tinderbox state.
At least 18 others were injured in the clashes that broke out Saturday inthe eastern state that has been on edge since Prime Minister NarendraModi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched an aggressive campaign to winparliamentary seats last year.
“Three of the dead were BJP workers while the other was a (regional)Trinamool party supporter,” a police official told AFP.
Local BJP leader Mukul Roy tweeted that three BJP workers were shot deadand a Trinamool minister said one of his party members was killed in thefight.
Violence peaked across the state during the general election in April-Mayand has continued even after results were announced, giving a massivenationwide victory to the BJP.
Both the BJP and Trinamool, led by the firebrand Modi critic MamataBanerjee, accuse each other of killings, intimidation and corruption.
Sandeshkhali, the site of the latest gun battle, remained tense on Sundaywith more than 100 police personnel standing guard in the area, witnessestold AFP.
The BJP, which has traditionally held sway in the Hindi-speaking belt inthe north, has been trying hard to pick up support in West Bengal whereBanerjee’s party has dominated for close to a decade.
It won 18 seats in the general election in West Bengal, up from the twothat it managed in 2014, en route to its nationwide win. Trinamool won 22while centre-left opposition party Congress picked up two of the total 42seats in the state.
Modi’s party won a huge 303 seats in the national parliament, increasingits previous tally of 282 seats in 2014.
– Fight over flags –
The clashes in Sandeshkhali broke out over the hoisting of BJP flags andthe putting up of posters, said the BJP’s general secretary in the state,Sayantan Basu.
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“They tried to throw away our party flags and posters and when weprotested, our workers were shot from point blank range,” Basu was quotedas saying by the Press Trust of India (PTI).
Local minister Jyotipriyo Mullick who belongs to the Trinamool party saidone of their supporters was “hacked and shot dead by BJP workers”.
State elections in West Bengal are scheduled to be held in 2021 with theBJP expected to give a tough fight again.
The state has witnessed some of the most violent feuds between rivalparties.
Last month, a BJP supporter was shot dead in state capital Kolkata and acar belonging to a Trinamool member was pelted with rocks. In February, aTrinamool lawmaker was shot dead.
And last year, a BJP worker was killed and his body was hanged from a tree.
Modi has called the killings “shameful and anti-democratic”.
Political killings are rife across India. While National Crime Bureau datasaid there were more than 100 political murders in 2016, experts say thefigure was likely much higher.
Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states are the worst for political murders,the government data shows. -APP/AFP
