Bengal violence: BJP slams Mamta Banerjee, claims chemical-laced water cannons used against them

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, October 8

Lashing out at the West Bengal government, saffron leaders on Thursday claimed “chemical-laced water cannons” were used against BJP workers by the police in clashes and that days of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in power are “now numbered”.

BJP president JP Nadda said the “party’s struggle to save the rich glory of Bengal will continue. We stand with the people of Bengal despite the brazen misuse of state power by Mamata didi. Our brave karyakartas compelled her to close the Secretariat. This is an admission that she has lost public confidence”.

Alleging misuse of power, Nadda said “Mamata Banerjee’s karyakartas and the government machinery led by her unleashed brute force upon BJP karyakartas in an attempt to prevent them from holding protests against her tyrannical and bloodied misrule in West Bengal”.

“The only thing Mamata Banerjee’s government has done better than the previous Left regimes is increase in brutality and political violence against political opponents. Bengal has been burning under her administration, which patronises violent elements.

“Beating up peaceful protestors, hurling country made bombs and using water cannon on their protest march show Mamata Banerjee’s frustration because she knows that her days in power are numbered and the people of Bengal have made up their mind to throw out her tyrannical government,” he said.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, condemning the “barbaric treatment” of the BJP workers by the police, alleged that “water cannons with chemicals were used against the leaders because of which many suffered”.

He also questioned the “silence of liberals” over the violence in Bengal.