Calling it a ‘genocide,’ West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee blamed the Centre on Sunday for violence in Cooch Behar district's Sitalkuchi constituency.
Four men were shot dead on Saturday morning in a clash with security forces outside a polling booth, during the fourth phase of state elections, triggering a blame game between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Trinamool Congress.
“It is a genocide. They sprayed bullets. They could have shot on the leg or the lower body but every bullet hit them in the neck or chest area.”West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee in Siliguri
Amit Shah ‘Completely Responsible’: Banerjee
She called Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi ‘incompetent.’ “They're coming here daily to capture Bengal. You are welcome, nobody has stopped you but make people happy rather than threatening them. You get people killed by central forces and later issue them a clean chit,” she said.
She had earlier blamed Amit Shah for being “completely responsible” for the incident. “He himself is the conspirator. I don't blame central forces because they work under home minister's order. We will demand his resignation," she said, calling the deaths "murder by central forces".
‘Modi Code of Conduct’
On Saturday, the Election Commission had announced that no politician can enter Cooch Behar district for three days.
Condemning the EC for restricting entry, she said on Sunday said the EC should rename the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) enforced at the time of elections as ‘Modi Code of Conduct’.
The EC had earlier said, CISF personnel had to open fire to "save their lives and government property like EVMs" after the troops were attacked by a mob,
"Due to the misunderstanding, the agitated mob attacked the CISF personnel detailed at the booth with deadly equipment and some of them even tried to snatch their arms and ammunitions," it said.
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