Arjun Chowrasiya, the 26-year-old party worker who was found hanging in an abandoned building in the West Bengal Cossipore area of Kolkata on Friday, had fled from the area following the victory of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) victory in the state assembly elections last year, fearing for life, reports Indian Express.
According to the reports, BJP state secretary Priyanka Tibrewal disclosed that nearly 70 party workers, including Arjun Chowrasiya, were forced to flee from Cossipore after the TMC’s victory in the assembly elections.
“I had visited the Cossipore police station to ensure their safe return,” Tibrewal said.
On Friday, a West Bengal BJP member named Arjun Chowrasiya was found hanging in the Ghosh Bagan area inside an abandoned building in Cossipore. Chowrasiya, who was Cossipore BJYM Mandal Vice-President, had planned the celebrations to welcome Home Minister Amit Shah in Kolkata and was supposed to lead his Mandal team in a bike rally on May 6.
Chaurasia, who worked in an undergarment factory in Burrabazar, had left home at 8:30 pm on Thursday night. On the next day, he was found dead. Arjun was appointed vice-president of the party’s Mandal committee recently.
Arjun had lost his father when he was six-year-old. As per the family, no money was found on the body even as he withdrew his salary on Wednesday. However, his mobile phone was found in a pocket and was handed over to the police.
“My son was killed since he was an active BJP worker,” said an inconsolable Laxmi Chaurasia, Arjun’s mother.
Chowrasiya had made all the arrangements for a bike rally to welcome Home Minister Shah to the state. He was supposed to lead more than 200 bikes in the rally. However, he was found hanging in an abandoned rail quarter in the Cossipore area on Friday morning.
Meanwhile, the BJP has blamed the ruling TMC party for the death of Arjun Chowrasiya.
Following the death, all the celebrations for Amit Shah’s welcome in Kolkata were cancelled. Union Home Minister Amit Shah also visited Chowrasiya’s residence on Friday afternoon.
Mysterious deaths of BJP workers violence in West Bengal
This is not the first time when a BJP karyakarta has been found dead in the state of West Bengal. On April 19 this year, a BJP worker’s body was found mysteriously hanging from a tree at Mallarpur town in Birbhum District. The deceased, Purna Chandra Laha, aged 40, was a daily wager and an active supporter of the BJP in the state. While the BJP then stated that he was killed for political reasons, the family of the deceased claimed that the TMC workers had murdered Laha.
Also, in November 2021, Shambhu Maity (36), BJP leader, was hacked to death at Bhagabanpur in Purba Medinipur (East Midnapore) district of West Bengal. According to the reports, the body of the head of BJP’s Shakti Kendra in the Chandipur Assembly constituency was recovered from the banks of the Keleghai river.
On October 17, Mithun Ghosh (37), the district vice-president of the BJP’s youth wing, was shot dead in the Itahar area in Uttar Dinajpur district. Ghosh was fired upon by some unidentified miscreants right in front of his residence in Rajgram village. Though he was immediately rushed to the Raiganj Medical College and Hospital, the doctors declared him brought dead.
Several BJP karyakartas have been brutally murdered in the post-poll violence that the state witnessed after the results of the state’s Vidhan Sabha were declared. The BJP has alleged that the number of party workers killed since the announcement of poll results on May 2 is over two dozen. The names of a few deceased party workers are Jayprakash Yadav, Anil Barman, Raja Samonto, Dhiren Barman, Prosenjit Das, Nirmal Mandal, Ghanshyam Rana, Arindam, Midya Dharma Mandal, Chandan Roy, Haradhon Ray and many more.
