Clamping Art 324 in West Bengal unconstitutional; it's EC gift to Modi, thunders Mamata
Kolkata: Attacking the Election Commission of India for curtailing the campaigning for the last phase of polls in West Bengal, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee Wednesday said it is an "unprecedented, unconstitutional and unethical gift" to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah by the poll panel.
Banerjee, also the chief minister, said she had never seen this type of EC which is "biased and full of RSS people".
"There is no such law and order problem in West Bengal that Article 324 can be clamped. It is unprecedented, unconstitutional, unfair, unethical and politically biased decision" against which the state will move the Supreme Court, she said.
"Mr EC has given a gift to Narendra Modi and Amit Shah (by invoking Article 324) in West Bengal for vandalising the statue of Vidyasagar," she claimed at a press conference held at her Kalighat residence.
Kolkata witnessed wide-spread violence during BJP president Amit Shah's massive road show Tuesday. A bust of 19th century Bengali icon Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was vandalised during the violence.
No violence had taken place during any other rally of Modi or Shah in the state earlier, she said and asked, "So where is the lawlessness?"
"The ECI is taking all the decisions at the behsest of the BJP. I have never seen this type of ECI ever. I think all the RSS people have been included in the ECI. The ECI is biased," she alleged.
In the first such action in India's electoral history, the EC on Wednesday invoked Article 324 of the Constitution to curtail the campaigning for the last phase of the election on May 19 in the wake of violence between BJP and Trinamool Congress workers in Kolkata on Tuesday.
It ordered that campaigning in nine seats will end at 10 pm on Thursday, a day before its scheduled deadline.
"I have never criticised any constitutional body but today the people of Bengal are under attack, the federal structure is under attack. The great son of this soil is under attack. There is a limit to humiliation and insult," she said.
The chief minister said she and the people of the state will fight this battle boldly.
"They can kill me or send me to jail but I am not afraid. I feel that the people of Bengal will give a suitable reply to you (Modi and Shah) through the ballot," she said.
Banerjee also alleged that Shah was solely responsible for carrying out Tuesday's violence in the city which was a "pre-planned criminal conspiracy".
"You (EC) have not taken any action against the culprits. There was no problem in any of the rallies other than that held by Amit Shah yesterday. Why was he (Shah) not showcaused? The EC is doing whatever the BJP is asking it to do," the TMC chief said.
Questioning the timing of the curtailment of campaign, Banerjee said, "Why hasn't the EC stopped campaigning from this moment? Is it because Modi has two rallies scheduled for tomorrow?"
She said the state government will move the Supreme Court to challenge the decision of the EC.
"Of course we will go to the Supreme Court after the elections. Now, the people are supreme and we will go to the people. They know everything," she said.
The poll panel also ordered the removal of Principal Secretary (Home) Atri Bhattacharya and Additional Director General, CID, Rajiv Kumar from their postings in West Bengal.
Banerjee said, "What wrong has the home secretary done? He has only written a letter asking the EC to take help of the local police. Law and order is a state subject."
Describing Rajiv Kumar as a good officer, she said, "Why are you (BJP) scared of Rajeev Kumar? You removed him because he is capturing hawala operators. Both the officers were removed not by the EC, but by Modi and Shah."
Banerjee has been claiming in her poll rallies that the BJP brought crores of rupees through hawala to be distributed among the people to buy votes.
She said till the sixth phase of the polling in West Bengal, only the central forces had opened fired and not the state police.
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Four booked for tying 18-year-old to tree, beating him up in UP's Pratapgarh
Pratapgarh (UP) (PTI): Four people were booked here for the abduction and assault of a man who they allegedly tied to a tree and beat up, police said on Wednesday.
The incident, a video of which has gone viral, took place on Tuesday afternoon under the Kunda police station limits.
The FIR was registered on Wednesday evening based on a complaint from the victim's father.
According to Keshav Prasad Yadav, a resident of Mauli village, some people called his 18-year-old son Nikhil Yadav on the phone and asked him to come out of his house around 2.30 pm on Tuesday.
As he reached outside the village as instructed, the accused allegedly forced him into a car and took him towards the Tinpedwa forest area, where they tied him to a tree and assaulted, the complainant said.
The attackers also recorded a video of the incident and circulated it on social media. The purported video shows the men thrashing Nikhil one after another, while one of them is assumed to have recorded the act.
Kunda Station House Officer Manoj Pandey confirmed the incident and said efforts are underway to identify and arrest all the accused.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has shared the video on social media, describing the incident as reflective of a "dominant mindset" against the PDA (Pichda or Backward, Dalit, and Alpasankhyak or Minority), and demanded strict action against the accused.
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