Police Shot at 3 Workers for Chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’: Bengal BJP

Two of the people, the BJP claimed, were their party workers who had been shot at.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/Altered by The Quint)

The West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party alleged on Saturday, 22 June, that three of their workers were injured in firing by police after they raised 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans in West Bengal’s Bankura.

According to the BJP, one of those injured in the firing by police is a 14-year-old boy.

The incident happened when a clash broke out between BJP and TMC workers after a group of BJP workers chanted 'Jai Shri Ram' at TMC MP Suvendu Adhikary's public meeting in Bankura, ANI reported.

Teenager Injured in Firing

BJP's Bankura MP Subhas Sarkar identified the teenager injured in the incident as Soumen Bauri, a 14-year-old, adding that his stomach had been ruptured in the shooting and that he had had to undergo surgery.

"He is still fighting and it is yet to be seen if his spleen and kidney have received injuries," Sarkar said about Bauri, adding that he had seen that his stomach was filled with blood.

The injured have been shifted to the nearby Bankura Medical College and Hospital, according to ANI.

Mamata Can’t Take Over Jungle Mahal So Easily: Sarkar

Sarkar questioned the state of affairs in West Bengal, calling upon Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to look around around her. Referring to chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ setting off clashes, he said that these things had been happening at Bhatpara, Sandeshkhali and Cooch Behar and now even in Bankura.

“Have you come to take over Jungle Mahal? You will not get your way in Jungle Mahal so easily. The people of Bankura have rejected you, now you have to hear chants of Jai Shri Ram,” Sarkar said.

He added that the harder Mamata fought to suppress and react to the chants, the farther people would move away.

Sarkar also slammed the police for firing at the BJP workers and rejected their claim that they had resorted to firing to suppress the rioting mobs.

Accusing the police of firing at the workers, Sarkar told ANI, "Police say they resorted to firing to quell the rioting mobs, which is wrong."

The BJP and TMC have been in a bitter battle in West Bengal where the former made significant inroads after the Lok Sabha elections; chants of Jai Shri Ram have led to several untoward incidents recently. Political violence has been rife in the state with members of both the parties getting killed in clashes.

(With inputs from ANI.)