New Delhi: Janata Dal (United) Rajya Sabha MP Ghulam Rasool Balyawi on Tuesday denied accusations of his alleged involvement in the Malda incident, saying it was a conspiracy against him.
“This is an attempt to make this (Malda) incident a controversy. I wasn’t present there in the procession. I challenge anyone, who can prove that I was there in the procession,” Balyawi told ANI.
“A procession was taken out and it was conducted very peacefully. Few people, who were heading back after the procession was over, are responsible for this incident,” he added.
The Rajya Sabha lawmaker also referred to the footage of the incident, saying it is enough to prove who the culprit is.
“This incident is highly condemnable. I also demand that the culprits should be arrested as the law should take its course,” he added.
Dubbing the incident and his alleged involvement as ‘conspiracy’, Balyawi pointed out that it has been done as the elections in Bengal are due this year.
“This is a conspiracy and it has been done because elections are there in the state. The parties don’t have any agenda and hence it is a result of that,” he added.
A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) delegation is set to meet President Pranab Mukherjee and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to apprise them of the law and order situation in the state.
This comes after the BJP delegation was turned away from Malda railway station.
The BJP has accused the Trinamool Congress of backing the perpetrators, adding that the violence in Malda was not a communal incident but a planned attack.
The TMC has, however, accused the BJP of spreading communal venom ahead of the state assembly polls this year.
On January 3, a mob set the Kaliachak police station and several vehicles on fire in protest against a hate speech by a right-wing leader.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the violence was nothing more than a localised problem and claimed that the state government was taking appropriate action.
