BJP importing 'outsider' goons to loot votes, says Mamata Banerjee

Trinamul Congress delegation led by Derek O’Brien and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar lodged a formal complaint to the Election Commission against Suvendu Adhikari

Mamata Banerjee addresses a rally at Debra on Friday.: Saikat Santra

Anshuman Phadikar   |  TT   |   Daspur   |   27.03.21: Mamata Banerjee and her party Trinamul Congress on Friday alleged BJP leader and her opponent at Nandigram Suvendu Adhikari had harboured bohiragawtos (outsiders) at different locations in East Midnapore with an intention to disrupt the first and second phase of voting.

Trinamul workers had captured some alleged outsiders at Contai in East Midnapore on Thursday night and handed them over to police. Three of them were arrested by the police and produced in court. The trio secured bail from the court.

At a rally in Daspur on Friday, the Trinamul chief said her repeated allegation of the BJP importing bohiragawto goons to Bengal had been proven by the Contai incident.

“I have been saying for long that they have been assembling bohiragawto goons. See, it was proved yesterday. In the morning, reports arrived that in Contai 1 and 2 (blocks), where the traitors (of the Adhikari clan) live, 30-odd goons from Uttar Pradesh were caught red-handed with guns in their possession,” said the chief minister.

Police sources, however, said the number of persons arrested was three, all unarmed, and they are residents of Delhi.

“They have hired Bargi raiders from outside to loot votes here,” Mamata said.

The Bargi was a sub-category of troops of the Maratha Empire that used to carry out large-scale pillage across the vast western swathes of Bengal almost annually through the 1740s.

The chief minister said she would stay at Nandigram from Sunday till the end of polling on April 1 to closely monitor the situation and to minimise the possibility of the alleged outsider goons disrupting the polls.

“You can understand how outsider goons have been coming here, I proved it to you…. Remember, I am on the frontlines. Do not allow a single bohiragawto goon to enter. If they stand in your way with guns… I know goons have been sent to Nandigram, I know the names…. I am saying this clearly, listen, if they try to harass you, the women chase them out. But no bullet for bullet, that is not the nature of my politics,” said Mamata. “Their desperation has been intensifying… with each passing day, the BJP is realising it is losing this election,” she added.

Later in the day, a Trinamul delegation, led by leader in the Rajya Sabha Derek O’Brien and Barasat MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, lodged a formal complaint with the Election Commission, seeking deployment of additional armed forces in the Contai North and South, Bhagabanpur, Khejuri, Egra, Ramnagar and Patashpur Assembly segments, and specifying nine locations where Adhikari had allegedly harboured armed criminals.

“We have received inputs that… there is going to be considerable violence planned by the BJP on the day preceding the poll as well as the polling days… the Election Commission’s deployment of central forces is significantly less in these areas, which we suspect is out of failure of local intelligence collection, or ignoring local intelligence inputs, or deliberate avoidance to blatantly favour the BJP,” wrote Trinamul in its complaint.

It added that Adhikari, the BJP’s candidate against Mamata at Nandigram, had been allegedly harbouring the armed criminals at specific locations in Gokul Nagar, Samsabad, Nandigram Hospital More, Haripur, Khodambari, Ahmedabad and Boyal.

“Local police have been informed of this, however, no steps have been taken yet,” alleged Trinamul in its complaint. “We call upon you to immediately intervene and direct necessary steps to be taken by the police under your supervision to forthwith apprehend all such armed criminals hired and harboured by Shri Suvendu Adhikari,” it added.

In her Daspur address, Mamata warned Trinamul supporters against complacence.

“Don’t become overconfident, don’t suffer from complacence. The BJP is the biggest fraud and a party of garbage… it will stop at nothing to win the election,” she said.

“They think this election can be rigged. We won’t allow that to happen,” she added.