BJP leader Dilip Ghosh on Thursday announced during his election campaign in West Bengal that if his party comes to power in the state, the police will undergo a transformation. “Uttar Pradesh style encounters” was his main promise in this regard when he addressed a gathering in Kharagpur.
“After May 4, everything will change. The police that you see today sitting and having tea with the mafia and acting like ‘chamchas’ of corrupt leaders will change its character. The same police will conduct encounters like what happened in Uttar Pradesh and put the criminals behind bars,” news agency PTI quoted him as saying.
Ghosh, the former state unit president of the BJP, alleged that police personnel in Trinamool-ruled West Bengal are currently working at the behest of the Mamata Banerjee government and are failing to act against criminals.
BJP-ruled UP under CM Yogi Adityanath is touting its “confrontation” policy as a massive success – which means killing alleged criminals – even as there are concerns about the police acting as so-called judge and jury.
Ghosh’s remarks sparked a political storm, with the TMC accusing the BJP of endorsing extrajudicial violence.
An unfazed Ghosh later asserted: “I have fought many battles against thugs and mafia in Kharajpur, and I will fight again. But maybe it will not be necessary this time. Once the BJP comes to power, everyone involved in the crime will be arrested and sent to jail.”
Ghosh, who represented Kharagpur Sadar segment in the assembly from 2016 to 2019, was again fielded by the BJP from the constituency. This seat served as one of the party’s early political footholds in West Bengal when it began expanding beyond its traditional enclaves.
“Cases have been filed against us alleging that we threatened people with weapons. But if someone feels fear, it is clear that Ghosh will scare him. Why should one be afraid? If you have courage, face yourself head-on. If they can loot, rob and intimidate voters with the help of police, why can’t we challenge them?” Ghosh said, adding that his politics in the industrial city have always been about confronting adversaries head-on. “The people of Kharagpur voted for me because of this, and they will vote for me again,” he added.
Earlier in the day, during a tea rally with his supporters, Ghosh said the police were afraid to remove the illegal cut-outs and hoardings of the Prime Minister. “We have filed a complaint with the Election Commission. The European Commission must ensure that the elections are held without bias,” he said.
Ghosh’s remarks come at a time when the BJP is hardening its stance on law and order in West Bengal ahead of the Assembly elections, while the TMC is responding by accusing the BJP of trying to import what it calls the “confrontation Raj” model from other states.
“The culture of encounter is working in Uttar Pradesh, not in Bengal. The EC should take note of his rhetoric,” Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim said.
The BJP last time managed to get 77 seats in the assembly, against just three in 2016, but the TMC has taken control of the 294-seat House again and is now seeking a fourth consecutive term since the Mamata Banerjee-led “Change” campaign ousted the entrenched Left Front government in 2011. The Left and Congress remain much smaller players since the BJP, which claims Mamata favors “Appeasing Muslims”, on the opposition space in India. The present.
