Kin of BJP workers killed in political violence in Bengal invited for Modi's swearing-in

The family members of over 50 BJP workers, who the party claims were killed in political violence in West Bengal in the last one year, left for New Delhi on Wednesday to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a second term.

The BJP has invited them to take part in Modi's swearing-in on Thursday as a "gesture of showing respect to our martyrs", a senior leader of the saffron party said.

The BJP has accused the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal of unleashing violence on its workers, alleging that at least 80 of them were killed in political violence.

The TMC has denied the charge.

"The family members of over 50 workers have been chosen and are being sent to Delhi to attend the swearing-in ceremony. Our party leaders will receive them at the New Delhi railway station," the senior state BJP leader said.

The party has booked their train tickets and informed them personally, BJP leader Mukul Roy said.

"It is a gesture of showing respect to our martyrs who died while working for the party in the violence unleashed by TMC goons," he added.

The family members of the slain BJP workers told reporters that they would like to meet Modi and narrate their experience to him personally.

"We would request the BJP and Narendra Modiji to see if jobs can be arranged for us," one of them said.

According to BJP sources, the invitation to the kin of the slain party workers is a "message" for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her TMC as the state is on the priority list of the saffron party.

A senior TMC leader alleged that the kin of the slain BJP workers were invited to the swearing-in ceremony to "humiliate" the state administration.

"Had they (BJP) been serious about showing respect to the families of martyrs, they should have also called the kin of the TMC workers who were killed in violence.

"By not doing so, the message they (BJP) want to give is quite obvious," he said.

Banerjee on Wednesday said she would not attend Modi's swearing-in ceremony, citing "untrue" claims made by the BJP that 54 of its workers were killed in political violence in Bengal.

The TMC supremo had on Tuesday said she might attend the ceremony on Thursday.

The BJP put up its best-ever show in West Bengal in the just-concluded Lok Sabha polls by winning 18 of the state's 42 seats -- a huge leap from its earlier tally of only two. The TMC won 22 seats, a sharp fall from the 34 it had won in the 2014 election.