Even because the Bharatiya Janata Celebration (BJP) has alleged 17 of its employees have been killed in 9 days in Bengal’s post-verdict political violence, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has accused the BJP of spreading faux information on social media, whereas police investigation into a number of the alleged murders pointed at both suicide or unnatural loss of life. Because of this, the story of Bengal’s political violence has received mired in narratives and counter-narratives, with fact a attainable casualty.

Asking the police to probe the supply of those social media posts, chief minister Mamata Banerjee stated on Could 7 that 16 individuals had been killed since Could 2 and half of the victims had been TMC employees.

Within the polls, TMC bagged 213 seats towards the BJP’s 77. Elections had been held in 292 of the state’s 294 seats as two candidates at two seats in Murshidabad district died of Covid-19. Polls in these constituencies will probably be held later. On Monday, the Union dwelling ministry sanctioned central safety cowl for all 77 BJP legislators in view of the potential threats to them.

The tales behind the deaths

The BJP on Tuesday claimed that Ranjit Das, a celebration employee in North 24 Parganas district’s Amdanga meeting constituency, which the TMC gained, was murdered and the physique was left hanging from a tree. The social gathering even circulated {a photograph} on social media.

District police officers stated no such incident had been reported and no official grievance was lodged at Amdanga police station until Tuesday afternoon.

On Monday, the BJP alleged that Kush Khetrapal, a celebration employee, was murdered at Kotulpur in Bankura district. The social gathering even circulated {a photograph} through which a person may very well be seen atop a excessive department of an enormous tree. It was not clear whether or not he was useless or alive.

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“The {photograph} in circulation just isn’t associated to the precise incident. A person named Kush Khetrapal died of drowning when he fell in a pond in an inebriated state. There was no violence concerned,” Manas Chatterjee, officer-in-charge of Kotulpur police station instructed HT.

On Could 7, the our bodies of two younger males had been discovered hanging from a tree within the Mothabari space of Malda district. BJP leaders alleged they had been social gathering employees murdered by TMC-backed goons.

Alok Rajoria, the Malda district superintendent of police instructed HT that postmortem examination report and police investigation performed over three days proved that the younger males had died by suicide.

“The proprietor of the store from the place the boys purchased the rope gave an announcement. A buddy of the 2 boys noticed them shopping for the rope and requested why they wanted it. The boys stated it was meant for some home use. Their our bodies didn’t have any exterior damage apart from a wound on the foot of one of many boys. It turned out to be marks from an animal chew. Their households didn’t even lodge a police grievance,” stated Rajoria.

“Neither the households nor the boys had reference to any political social gathering. The households stated the boys had been hooked on taking part in video games on their telephones. They left their telephones at dwelling on the evening of the incident,” Rajoria added.

The political battle

“Spreading faux information, morphed images and edited movies is an outdated follow of the BJP. Even when a debt-ridden farmer commits suicide or a person takes his personal life after a failed affair, the BJP sees a possibility to create a sensation,” stated TMC MLA and social gathering spokesperson Tapas Roy.

On Monday, the state authorities instructed a five-judge bench of the Calcutta excessive court docket, which was listening to a public curiosity litigation associated to post-poll violence, that no incident was reported from any a part of the state after Could 8. The court docket noticed that the state had taken steps to comprise violence.

Reiterating the allegations of violence, Bengal BJP’s chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya stated, “Having highest respect for the court docket, I wish to say that its statement is stunning. The court docket ought to ship its representatives to these areas the place the TMC has unleashed terror. Girls are being raped and molested. Outlets and farms are being looted and ransacked in order that our employees lose their supply of revenue…Banerjee and her police are giving flawed data to the individuals to cover the reality.”

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Former Rajya Sabha member Swapan Dasgupta, who misplaced from Tarakwswar in Hooghly district, alleged that proprietor of the home BJP took on lease for him throughout marketing campaign, was not spared. “The person, who runs a chilly storage enterprise, confronted threats from the TMC as a result of we used his home,” stated Dasgupta.

The violence has not spared the Communist Celebration of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), though it couldn’t win even one seat similar to its ballot ally, the Congress.

“Kakali Khetrapal, one in all our ladies activists, was murdered by TMC employees at Nabagram village within the Jamalpur space of West Burdwan district on Could 3. When villagers retaliated, two TMC employees died in a conflict. However not in every single place have such retaliations taken place. Our supporters from that zone have gone into hiding,” stated Amal Haldar, a senior CPI(M) state chief who hails from the district.

In north Bengal’s Cooch Behar district, Udayan Guha, the previous TMC legislator who misplaced his Dinhata meeting seat to the BJP by solely 57 votes, suffered fractures in his proper arm and two of his safety officers had been injured in an alleged assault by BJP employees on Could 6. Guha underwent a second surgical procedure on Tuesday and a metal plate was implanted in his arm. In North Bengal, the BJP gained 30 of the area’s 54 meeting seats. Within the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the saffron camp bagged seven of the area’s eight seats.

Final week, the chief minister alleged that Cooch Behar witnessed extra violence than different locations. “BJP leaders are instigating individuals. I request them to simply accept the individuals’s mandate and restrain themselves,” stated Banerjee.