CPI(M) accuses BJP, TMC of communal polarisation in WB

New Delhi, Oct 28: CPI(M) today accused BJP and ruling Trinamool Congress in

of communally polarising the people, saying it signalled a dangerous portend for the state which has not seen communal tension for several decades.

"The so-called clashes between the two parties are on the rise. What is dangerous is that both of them are trying to polarise the people on communal lines. They are fuelling each other so that they can sustain on that basis. Such a situation is something unforeseen in Bengal," CPI(M) Politburo member Surjya Kanta Mishra said here.

His comments came after three persons were killed, several injured and a large number of houses burnt down as Trinamool Congress and BJP supporters fought pitched gun battle at Makra village in Birbhum district yesterday. Mishra, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, said TMC and BJP have "the common agenda of polarising the people so that they can usurp the space for Left, secular and democratic forces. That is their gameplan".

While the Trinamool Congress-led government was doing nothing to check the spree of violence, the BJP-led central government too was taking its own time to react, he said. "It took the Centre seven days to hand over the (Birbhum blast) case to the National Investigating Agency. Same is the situation facing the investigations into the Saradha scam. We will have to see how far CBI and Enforcement Directorate go (in the ponzi scam case)," Mishra, who is here to attend the CPI(M) Central Committee meeting, said. "We will know only when they deliver.

The taste of the pudding is when it is eaten," he said. Accusing the police and administration of "complete paralysis" in checking these clashes especially in Birbhum, he said most of these violent incidents were the handiwork of "people from outside" and alleged that the police has failed to nab even a single culprit so far. "There is no police presence in most of the places where violence incidents are taking place and a sense of insecurity prevails among the commoners," Mishra said.

PTI