BJP, CPI(M), Trinamool observe first anniversary of Bogtui carnage

Supporters of political parties in West Bengal, on Tuesday, gathered at Bogtui in Birbhum to remember those, who had lost lives in a carnage, following the killing of a local Trinamool panchayat representative, a year ago.

The Trinamool, the BJP, and the CPI(M) made efforts to reach out to the people in the region during the day. Last year, following the incident, senior politicians – Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari, and CPI(M) state secretary Md Salim – visited the region.

On Tuesday, the representatives of the three parties organised their programmes separately. The Trinamool leaders who tried to visit one of the affected families, local sources claim, were initially prevented from doing so. Left supporters led by Salim, and BJP supporters led by Adhikari, took out silent rallies.

Adhikari’s gathering included people sporting skullcaps, an indication of the BJP’s subtle reach out to Bengal’s largest minority, considered to have sided with Trinamool in earlier elections.

Adhikari, later, said that he wasn’t there to seek votes but to stand with the affected families.

The BJP, in Bengal, seemingly, is following PM Narendra Modi’s directive of reaching out to the backward sections among Muslims. In a recent by-election in Sagardighi constituency, the Trinamool lost the seat to a Left-supported Congress candidate, and the party saw it, as a result of the ‘transfer of votes' from the BJP to the candidate from the Opposition.