BJP a militant organisation, doling out money to win polls: Mamata
Kolkata, June 21: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday dubbed the BJP a "militant organiation" and accused it of doling out cash to win elections, saying such practices by it will soon be the reason for its downfall.
Addressing the extended core committee meeting of her Trinamool Congress, Banerjee alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party was engaged in diving the people on religious lines.
"We are not a militant organisation like the BJP. They are arrogant and intolerant. They are religiously biased. They don't like Muslims, Christians, Sikhs - they are even differentiating between the upper caste and the lower caste Hindus," she said.
Taking a veiled swipe at West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Dilip Ghosh for vowing to retaliate with bullets and carry out "encounters" if BJP workers are troubled, Banerjee dared the BJP to attack her party men.
"Some BJP leaders are threatening to carry out encounters. Some are talking about using guns and hurling bombs. They are even talking about finishing us off. I dare them to show their might. We have seen their capabilities during the Panchayat elections," she thundered.
"Nothing can be achieved in politics at the point of a gun. You (BJP leaders) are talking about bombs and bullets because you are in power in Delhi now. Where will you go once you lose the power? People are getting ready to throw you off."
Ghosh on Tuesday said the BJP was counting the bullets used on their party workers by the Trinamool Congress and vowed to pay them back in the same coin if the attacks did not stop.
"We are counting the bullets which killed our workers. The TMC leaders will either go to jail or there will be direct encounters. Violence will be countered with violence and bullets will be answered by bullets.
"We have not signed a bond where it is written that we will offer them sweets even if they beat us," Ghosh told a public meeting in Jalpaiguri.
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Mathura boat capsize tragedy: Death toll climbs to 13
Mathura (UP)(PTI): With the recovery of two more bodies on Sunday, the death toll in the boat capsize incident in the Yamuna river in Mathura has climbed to 13, officials said on Sunday.
Search for three more missing persons is underway.
Superintendent of Police (Rural) Suresh Chandra Rawat said renewed search efforts led to the recovery of the body of a college student, identified as Dinki Bansal, near Devraha Baba Ghat and that of a man identified as Rishabh Sharma approximately 3 km away from the accident site.
The incident occurred on Friday afternoon when a boat carrying over two dozen tourists, primarily from Punjab, hit a floating drum of a pontoon bridge and capsized near Kesi Ghat in Vrindavan.
Most of the victims were from Jagraon and Dugri areas of Ludhiana district.
Teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) along with the district administration and local police were actively engaged in the search for the missing pilgrims.
However, strong currents of the Yamuna river and the significant depth of the water at the ghats are proving a hindrance.
Circle Officer (Mant) Sandeep Singh said the Yamuna river stretch extending from Keshi Ghat to Gokul Barrage has been divided into seven sectors.
The search for the missing individuals will now be conducted within this specific 20-square-km zone. A Station House Officer (SHO) has been designated as the in-charge for each sector.
Acting on the orders of the DIG (Agra Range), seven SHOs will oversee operations across the seven sectors of river Yamuna.
Giving details about the operation, Additional District Magistrate (Finance and Revenue) Pankaj Kumar Verma, citing NDRF officials, on Saturday had said although the search for the missing persons is currently focused within a 14-km radius from the spot where the boat had capsized, there is a possibility that they may have been swept much further downstream.
SHO of Vrindavan police station Sanjay Pandey said boat operator Pappu was arrested late on Friday night.
He is accused of failing to provide life jackets to passengers before allowing them to board the boat, and operating the boat at high speed. This resulted in the boat losing control and colliding with a pontoon bridge's drum, which led to the accident, officials said.
Police have registered a case and also arrested the contractor, Narayan Sharma, responsible for the repair work on the pontoon bridge.
Rawat said that on Friday evening, police registered a case under section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against the boatman Pappu (alias Dauji) and Sharma, and subsequently arrested them.
According to the case details, Pappu's boat did not have any safety equipment or provisions whatsoever.
Moreover, despite repeated pleas from pilgrims, Pappu operated the boat at high speed. By the time he realised the danger upon approaching the pontoons of the bridge, it was already too late.
Consequently, after colliding with a pontoon drum, the boat lost control and capsized. It has also come to light that he is among those operators who have not obtained the requisite license to operate a boat.
Sharma was carrying out the work of dismantling and reassembling the pontoon bridge without providing any prior notification.
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