Violence must end, says Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose after meeting slain TMC worker’s kin

With less than a week to go for the rural polls, and the build-up marred by violent incidents, West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose, on Monday, placed a 48-hour deadline for the competent authorities to act, as he held the state election commission solely responsible for holding free and fair elections.

“This political Holi with the human blood, has to end,” the Governor made a sharp remark. Bose visited Basanti in south Bengal. There, he spoke to the family members of a Trinamool worker, who was (allegedly) shot dead late on Saturday night.

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“We know election is a time-bound affair. You know, the date of the election has already been announced. That is why, 48 hours. I would like to see what action the competent authorities are taking, within the Constitution, within the mandate of the high court judgment in 48 hours. Based on the quality of the decision-making, I will give my report card to my masters, that is the people of Bengal,” he said.

The state election commission is responsible for holding the elections in a free and fair manner, and there is no reason to distrust the commission, the governor said. “I still believe that the state election commission will rise to the occasion, and will certainly implement the high court order in letter and spirit,” he said, adding that the commission should ensure that violence is curbed, and the ecosystem is built up where the voter can go and freely cast his vote.

Governor Bose said that his visit to the field (the pockets he visited in recent days) has convinced him that there is violence in certain pockets in West Bengal. “There is the manifestation of what may be called the politics of murder, the politics of intimidation, the politics of muscle flexing,” he said, adding that instead of questioning who’s responsible, the priority for him, at the moment, is the fact that violence exists. “People in some pockets, at least, are scared of the goons and the lawbreakers. That is a fact which has to be addressed,” he said.

Governor Bose said that he has made five specific points of observation for his “constitutional colleague”, the state election commission, and the same will be shared in confidence.

About the “gang leaders” involved in the violence, the governor said that while it’s up to the investigating agencies to establish their involvement, yet as a person with experience in public administration, he would share his assessment with the competent authorities in confidence.

“This sad chapter of violence should end, will end, we will stand together and see that it ends,” Governor Bose stated, adding that he would not say that there’s widespread violence in the entire state. “We have to segregate the pockets where the violence is there. We have to segregate the perpetrators or the gang-leaders,” he said.

Mamata Banerjee, Trinamool chief, meanwhile, addressed supporters at Dubrajpur in Birbhum district, virtually, over the phone. Besides hitting out at the BJP government at the Centre, Banerjee pointed fingers at the CPI(M), and the Congress, alleging that while the parties talk of fighting against the BJP at the Centre, in Bengal, they fight against the Trinamool. Banerjee also reiterated the alleged coordination the two parties had in Bengal with the BJP, for putting up a fight against the ruling Trinamool.