Trinamool harbouring Bangladeshi fundamentalists: BJP

Accusing the West Bengal government of "patronising and harbouring Bangladeshi fundamentalists", the BJP Friday said attacks on its activists is a "larger design to spread terror".

A five-member BJP central team visited Sandeshkhali in North 24-Parganas district May 31 where over two dozen of its activists were injured after being "fired upon by Trinamool Congress goons".

The team submitted its report Friday to party president Rajnath Singh, who is the union home minister.

"The border area with Bangladesh is a new home for Islamic fundamentalist groups, that are being patronised by the Trinamool government for their vote bank politics," the team said in its report.

"A certain section among Trinamool leaders is also harbouring activists and criminals of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh. These anti-socials cross over to West Bengal to create communal tension and fan fundamentalist ideas," the report said.

The report also claims "some of these elements have openly canvassed for the Trinamool during the last election".

The team blamed the Congress-led UPA government for instructing the Border Security Force (BSF) to use non-lethal weapons, which has emboldened criminals and led to infiltration, illegal goods trade, cattle smuggling, human trafficking and introduction of fake currency.

"These groups have emerged as threats to national security and the issue at hand must be examined keeping this in mind," the team led by party vice presidents S.S. Ahluwalia and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said in the report.

"These attacks are not just a fight between two political parties but part of a larger design to spread a reign of terror in the region through a nexus of Islamic groups, smuggling mafia, terror elements and Trinamool goons," the team said.

"The rise of BJP as a major political force in the last Lok Sabha election has posed serious threat to the nefarious designs of these elements and the political parties supporting and abetting their activities. Therefore, they are trying to unleash a cycle of violence and retribution against BJP workers," the report said.

Advocating the intervention of the national women and human rights panels, the party has urged the union home ministry to seek a comprehensive and detailed action-taken report from the Mamata Banerjee-led state government.