Even police not safe in Mamata Banerjee's Bengal, says Rajnath over Malda violence

Ashok Nagar (West Bengal): Launching a stringent attack on West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee government, union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said no one, including police, was safe in the state and asserted that the Centre would provide any number of central forces requisitioned by the Election Commission in the upcoming assembly polls.

The senior BJP leader called on the people to vote fearlessly in the polls and bring his party to power to usher in "real change" in the eastern state.

With the state assembly polls around three months away, the veteran leader hit out at the Trinamool Congress regime over a host of issues including the "deteriorating" law and order and lack of industry.

Days after four central ministers including Finance Minister Arun Jaitley praised the Banerjee regime at the Bengal Global Business Summit, Rajnath Singh ridiculed the investment conclave, saying unless the law and order situation improved, no industrialist would want to put in a penny in the state.

Assuring that those behind the January 3 violence at Kaliachak of Malda district would be unmasked and brought to justice, he flayed Banerjee for describing it as a "small incident" arising out of a dispute between the BSF and the locals.

He accused the state government of trying to shield those who attacked the BSF.

"The Malda incident is not a small incident, and I want to tell this state government and the chief minister that those who are behind this incident, they will have to be unmasked. Just a few arrests will not suffice," said Rajnath Singh, wondering why the state government did not make elaborate police arrangements to tackle the situation.

"Didn't the government know that such a large procession will be there? Was it not the state government's responsibility to make suitable police arrangement?" he asked at a party rally here in North 24 Parganas district, about 50 km from Kolkata.

The home minister said the situation could have been averted had a senior police officer been at the spot from the beginning.

"I assure you, all those behind the Malda incident will be unmasked, and their destination will be jail."

"The Trinamool government described itself as the government of 'Maa, Maati and Manush' (Mother, land and people). But neither Maa, Maati nor Manush is safe. No one is safe in Bengal. Even police are not safe here," Rajnath Singh said.

The BJP leader said the people's aspiration to bring change in the state gets defeated due to electoral malpractices.

"So, as India's home minister, I want to assure the entire people of Bengal, cast your votes fearlessly in this assembly polls. I will tell the Election Commission, whatever central forces may be required, we will provide all of that," he said.

He said there was a need to end political violence in the state.

"In other states, politics is done peacefully, political parties criticise each other on the basis of issues. But in Bengal, political rivals are perceived as enemies. This phenomenon was there during the Left Front rule and has continued under the Trinamool."

Assuring that the BJP will strive to bring back Bengal to its past glory, Rajnath Singh called upon the people to bring the party to power in Bengal.

Two days before the Narendra Modi government begins declassifying secret files on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Rajnath Singh flayed successive Congress regimes for not taking steps to unravel the mystery behind the revolutionary leader's disappearance.