Malda violence planned action: BJP

The BJP on Monday said the Malda violence in West Bengal was a "planned action and not a communal reaction", after a three-member party delegation was stopped from visiting Kaliachak by the district authorities in the eastern state.

The Bharatiya Janata Party said its leaders will meet union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and seek investigation by an appropriate agency into the violence in Kaliachak on January 3 in which a mob set afire a police station and a dozen-odd vehicles.

"An incident happens on December 1 and the reaction happens on January 3... it took more than 30 days. If there was a communal reaction, it has to be spontaneous. Therefore, it was not a communal reaction, but a planned action," BJP national secretary Sidharth Nath Singh told reporters here.

The mob violence in Kaliachak was not a communal incident but a clash between locals and Border Security Force, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Sunday.

"Once the three-member delegation returns, another party delegation will meet the home minister with a request for an appropriate agency to look into the case," he added.

The BJP reaction came after BJP MPs Bhupendra Yadav, S.S. Ahluwalia and B.D. Ram were stopped by the Malda district administration from visiting Kaliachak.

Singh said the attack on Kaliachak police station was aimed at destroying evidence of wrong-doings.

The BJP leader said Malda had become a hub for drug trade as authorities overlooked opium cultivation, asking why the West Bengal chief minister did not make efforts to stop such cultivation.

"Acres after acres of land is under opium farming in Malda. Why is your (Mamata Banerjee's) administration sleeping and turning a blind eye," he asked.