Governor visits Bhangar, speaks to residents of the area

Kolkata: Following the violence that broke out in Bhangar, South 24-Parganas over nomination filing, Governor C V Ananda Bose on Friday visited the place and spoke to locals who recalled the incidents and alleged many of the Indian Secular Front (ISF) candidates were allegedly stopped from filing nominations.

The Governor went to Bijoygunj Bazaar which had turned into a battlefield with bombs hurled and gunfire exchanged. Some of the bombs lay strewn on the road. It is learnt that just an hour before the Governor reached the area, the police recovered some bags full of of crude bombs.

He also visited the BDO office in Bhangor-II and spoke to block-level authorities. He was briefed about the situation there by the police. However, none of the top police officials from the district or the state were present when the Governor reached the spot.

He was briefed by a junior officer in the rank of a sub-inspector of police.

Bose also interacted with the local people who recalled to him the attacks and threats that they faced in the last couple of days. Some of the persons brought along with them the nomination papers and alleged that none of them could file nominations at Bhangor-I.

Earlier, the Governor in a strongly worded statement said: “In a democracy, people are the masters. It is their inalienable right to exercise their franchise, without

fear. Violence has no place in democratic elections...”

Reacting to this, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said such comments from the Governor are based on certain stray incidents and are “unwarranted”. He questioned: “On what basis does the Governor say such things? He never speaks of the situations in

Manipur and Uttar Pradesh. Even though he is the

Governor of Bengal, he could have issued a Twitter message over the situation there as an Indian citizen.”