Parui clashes continue unabated, more police forces deployed

Clashes that erupted apparently between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP in several villages seem to be spreading to Parui. Bombs exploded in Sirsita village, allegedly forcing police to fire warning shots.

Clashes broke out over the weekend  in Sirsita even as a host of Trinamool leaders, including minister Chandranath Sinha, district chief Anubrata Mondal, MLA Manirul Islam and Birbhum zilla parishad sabhadhipati Bikash Roychowdhury, held a public meeting in Imadpur, a few kilometers away, to boost the morale of party workers.

The meeting started late and by then violence had broken out in Sirsita, Kansarhat and Inda. There were intermittent clashes and bombing all morning. Police faced a particularly tough fight in Sirsita as bombs exploded all over the village. Locals say police were forced to opened fire but senior officers refused to comment on it.

At the Imadpur meeting, Anubrata accused BJP and CPM of a conspiracy. ‘BJP goons and CPM harmads have joined hands to frighten us. Don’t worry. Police will take proper action against the anti-socials. The Trinamool Congress will not fight or indulge in violence,’ said Anubrata Mandal.

Challenging BJP to a political fight, he said, ‘Show your strength in organisation and public relation. If BJP wins a single assembly seat in 2016, I’ll quit as district Trinamool president’.

BJP leaders, on the other hand, allege that the Imadpur meeting was an attempt to provoke the public. BJP's district general secretary Dilip Ghosh said, ‘In Chowmandalpur and Makhra, the administration imposed CrPC Section 144 to prevent us from entering the villages. But the police allowed Trinamool leaders to hold a rally within three days of the Imadpur incident. We apprehend the party  meeting will worsen order in the area.’

Police, too, are wary and have increased deployment in Makhra and Chowmandalpur as a result of the spate of violence.