TMC accuses Shah of 'double standards' in addressing Ram Navami violence

The Trinamool Congress on Friday accused Union Home Minister Amit Shah of adopting "double standards" while addressing incidents of violence during Ram Navami in various states.

Ram Navami was celebrated across the country last week with grand processions and special pujas, but the festivities were marred by the deaths of 14 people in separate incidents in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and clashes and arson in some parts of the country.

Prohibitory orders were imposed in West Bengal's Hooghly and Howrah districts, where clashes broke out between two groups when processions were taken out to celebrate Ram Navami.

HM@AmitShah shows DOUBLE STANDARD in addressing Ram Navami violence: Goes all ballistic on Opposition-ruled states: West Bengal & Bihar. Takes no actions against @BJP4India& Allies-ruled states: Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, & UP. Rules for thee but not for me, much? TMC posted on its official Twitter handle.

Shah had said that if the BJP comes to power in Bihar, rioters would be hung upside down, a comment that drew sharp retorts from Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee, who accused the BJP of orchestrating the violence.

Senior TMC leader Kunal Ghosh had earlier accused the BJP-led Centre of acting according to the instructions of its West Bengal unit.

"Amit Shah Ji had slammed the Bihar government over Ram Navami clashes. Then why was he mum on his party leaders being involved in Ram Navami clashes in West Bengal? This only proves the double standards of the BJP," he had said.

The BJP dismissed the TMC's allegations as "baseless".

"The allegations of the partisan approach of the Centre and Amit Shah Ji are baseless. The TMC administration failed to maintain law and order during Ram Navami processions. Its incompetence is out in the open after central forces ensured peaceful Hanuman Jayanti celebrations in the state yesterday. So, to hide its failures, it is making such baseless allegations," BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh said.

Hanuman Jayanti celebrations passed off peacefully in West Bengal on Thursday as security forces maintained a strict vigil across the state to avoid a rerun of the violence that marked the Ram Navami festival last week.

Following a Calcutta High Court order, three companies of central armed police forces were deployed in parts of Kolkata, Hooghly and Barrackpore to assist the state police in maintaining law and order on the occasion.