Trinamul fact-finding team on UP killings

Bengal’s ruling party seeks to counter BJP narrative

Derek O’Brien : File picture

Snehamoy Chakraborty, Piyush Srivastava   |   Bolpur(Birbhum), Lucknow   |   PP  | 24.04.22 : Five members of a family were found murdered with their throats slit and heads bludgeoned and their house set on fire in Allahabad on Saturday, prompting Trinamul to announce that a fact-finding team from the party would be sent to BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh. 

“The BJP always tries to find the facts even if any minor incident happens in Bengal. Let us now move to the states ruled by them to find the facts. We will talk to local people to know more about the lawlessness in Uttar Pradesh,” said Dola Sen, Trinamul trade union president and part of the five-member team that will go to Allahabad on Sunday. 

The other members are former Bongaon MP Mamata Bala Thakur, ex-Jhargram MP Uma Soren and party leaders Saket Gokhale and Lalitesh Tripathi.

Those found dead inside the house at Khaiwajpur village have been identified as Ram Kumar Yadav, 55, his wife Kusum Devi, 52, daughter Manisha, 25, daughter-in-law Savita, 27, and granddaughter Minakshi, 2. Sakshi, 5, another granddaughter, is in hospital. 

Police and locals suspect robbery as the reason behind the murder of the family of farmers and cattle traders in Allahabad, which has witnessed several such gruesome crimes in the past few years. 

Trinamul insiders in Bengal said the decision to send the fact-finding team was taken to counter the BJP that dispatches its leaders to the eastern state but stays inert on crimes reported in states ruled by that party.

Senior Trinamul leaders took to social media to criticise the law-and-order situation in Yogi Adityanath’s Uttar Pradesh.

“Five of a family brutally murdered in Ajay Bisht’s Prayagraj. Among them was a two year old girl. Will the BJP government form a SIT? Allow the AITC team to go and stand by the family?” Trinamul Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien tweeted.

Bengal minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said: “They (BJP leaders) always come up with fact-finding committees and criticise law and order when some incident happens in Bengal. Where are the BJP leaders now? Why are they quiet when any incident happens in BJP-ruled states?” 

The BJP called the exercise a “gimmick”. “Sending fact-finding teams is a kind of political gimmick of Trinamul. In BJP-ruled states, no one gives lame excuses for murders. The culprits will be booked and we express sorrow over the deaths,” said BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya.