West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose rushed to Cooch Behar on Wednesday after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Nisith Pramanik and Trinamool Congress (TMC) minister Udayan Guha clashed on Tuesday night. Talking to the media, Bose said that 'violence' won’t be tolerated in Bengal.
"I have visited the field to take stock of reality. We have seen violence during the Panchayat election but it won’t be repeated. As in the words of Rabindranath Tagore, where the mind is without fear and the head is held high. Bengal will witness this after this general election," added Bose.
Bose had also sought a report from the state police about the confrontation between Pramanik and Guha. BJP MP and Union Minister Nisith Pramanik said that stones were pelted at their campaign by the TMC.
"This is a shame in the name of democracy. Stones were pelted on BJP workers and me while we were campaigning. Not just the TMC goons but even the police attacked the BJP workers. In which state are we staying?” questioned Pramanik.
TMC minister Udayan Guha slammed BJP’s Pramanik for creating 'unnecessary tension' in the state ahead of the election. "Nisith Pramanik knows that he has lost the ground in Cooch Behar and can never win the elections. He is creating tension purposely to win the election," said Guha.
Meanwhile, shops remained closed at Dinhata in Cooch Behar after TMC called for a strike after the clash.
The strike received a positive response and a large number of police officials were deployed across Dinhata, but due to Ramzan the 24 hours strike was reduced to 10 hours. On the other side, the saffron camp demonstrated outside the office of Superintendent of Police.
It may be recalled that on Tuesday night a confrontation between the BJP and TMC turned into a violent clash where SDPO of Dinhata, Dhiman Mitra, sustained head injury.
