Ex-servicemen hold TMC responsible for Basirhat violence in letter to Rajnath

A delegation of ex-servicemen, ex-judges, ex-bureaucrats on Friday wrote to Home Minister Rajnath Singh seeking a thorough probe into the Basirhat violence, while holding Trinamool Congress (TMC) responsible for creating communal riots in the region.

In the letter addressed to the Home Minister, the delegation opined that it was a clear conspiracy by the ruling party in the state to create communal riots and to chase out members of the Hindu community.

"It is to terrorise and murder workers and supporters of political parties opposed to the Trinamool Congress," the letter stated.

Highlighting the state government's denial to allow deployment of paramilitary forces when it itself had asked for it earlier, the letter said, "Such a refusal and callous attitude towards the situation can only give rise to the apprehension that the Basirhat mayhem is being perpetrated with the active connivance of the state government."

They also claimed that ultra-radical elements and disruptive elements from across the border are also involved in perpetrating lawlessness in the region.

"Basirhat, the adjoining area, being in the border zone such a situation poses grave threat to our national security," it further read.

The delegation also demanded that the perpetrators of the carnage must be tried in the court of law and be asked to compensate the affected people.

Earlier today, TMC MLA Deependu Biswas was removed as the in-charge of the Basirhat area.

Heavy security forces have been deployed in and around the area in the wake communal violence that broke out in Baduria and Basirhat areas of North 24 Parganas district over a Facebook post last week.

Earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had appealed the warring groups to maintain peace and communal harmony in the area.