After the gunshots by CISF personnel at Cooch Behar during the fourth phase of Bengal elections, there's an eerie silence which is deafening. The goonj of the bullet shots is gradually getting shriller. Arguing that Saturday's firing would prove to be a "turning point" in the pot-boiler Bengal polls, Bimal Gurung, chief of one of the two GJM factions, said that the BJP would face voters' wrath in the remaining phases in north Bengal.
"During the 2017 Gorkhaland agitation, many people were killed... The TMC subsequently faced the music in the 2019 general election when it lost all eight Lok Sabha seats in north Bengal. This time, the BJP is set to meet the same fate," he claimed.
Meanwhile, Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday accused Mamata Banerjee of "politicising" the poll violence in Cooch Behar. Five people, including an 18-year-old first-time voter, were killed in two separate incidents of poll-related violence in Cooch Behar.
He said in the morning, a first-time voter Anand Burman was shot dead at the very same polling booth, however, Mamata Didi condoled only the deaths of the other four people.
This appeasement and vote bank politics even in death shows how much she has degraded the politics in West Bengal." Burman, the first-time voter, was killed earlier in the day on Saturday, while the other incident took place around 9:30am.
It may be recalled that Shah pointed out to the fact that earlier Mamata in a speech had asked voters to "block" the central forces. The poll body cited Banerjee's speeches made on March 28 and April 7 in which she accused central forces of intimidating voters. She had asked the crowd to gherao central security forces. The poll body said that Banerjee's remarks are 'highly objectionable' and violate several sections of the model code.
During the day, Mamata made video calls to the kin of the deceased and had assured them of help.and termed the killing as genocide.
