On Thursday, June 1, two unidentified individuals broke into the home of a local BJP leader in the Cooch Behar district of West Bengal and opened fire, killing him. The victim was identified by the police as Prasanta Basunia, general secretary of the BJP local committee in the Dinhata region of the district.
#BREAKING
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) June 2, 2023
BJP leader #PrasantaBasunia shot dead at home by 2 unknown men in Cooch Behar village of West Bengal.
BJP demands a CBI probe in the case.
Listen in as @AdrijaSaha9 shares more details with @PriyaBahal22 pic.twitter.com/Mku5pvbNNY
The BJP leader’s family told the police that Basunia was going to have lunch when two men barged through the door and shot him at close range. The BJP leader was rushed to the Dinhata government hospital where doctors declared him dead.
According to police, the victim’s mother informed authorities that she could recognise one of the attackers and that she had previously seen him.
A police officer at Dinhata police station said on condition of anonymity that they are questioning the Basunias’ neighbours and family for leads.
The opposition leader in West Bengal, Suvendu Adhikari, meanwhile, reacted angrily to the occurrence. According to him, the incident was a response to the daily defection of hundreds of members from the TMC party in Dinhata to the BJP. He asserted that the TMC was so angry by the mass resignation that it responded by carrying out the brutal murder.
WB's Law & Order is in tatters.
— Suvendu Adhikari • শুভেন্দু অধিকারী (@SuvenduWB) June 2, 2023
BJP leader Prashanta Ray Basunia shot dead in Dinhata; Cooch Behar district; WB. The assailants forcefully entered his house & shot him.
Hundreds of party members are quitting the Regional TMC Party in Dinhata & joining the BJP everyday.
Scared… pic.twitter.com/yhU7ABVQ9N
“I demand CBI investigation as any fair investigation by the Police would be obstructed or influenced by the ruling party, due to the involvement of “influential” people,” Adhikari stated.
Samik Bhattacharya, West Bengal BJP’s chief spokesperson, also claimed Basunia was killed by criminals sent by the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC). “This is a political murder. Basunia was targeted to weaken the BJP’s organisation before the panchayat elections. Criminalisation of politics is an achievement of the ruling party,” said Bhattacharya. He did not cite any evidence to back his allegation.
TMC’s Dinhata legislator Udayan Guha, however, dismissed the BJP’s allegations. “The crime had nothing to do with politics. Police are conducting an investigation and the truth with be revealed soon. Basunia had a criminal record,” Guha said.
“I have to say that any incident like this is unfortunate, but it has nothing to do with politics, and TMC does not believe in the politics of violence and killings,” Prathabratim Roy, TMC district president also dismissed the allegations.
Political Violence in West Bengal
West Bengal has a long history of political violence. The state has often seen unprecedented waves of violence directed at BJP workers and supporters, who were allegedly brutally murdered, prosecuted, and raped by Trinamool Congress leaders and workers.
In the 2021 polls, TMC won 213 out of 292 seats while BJP won 77 seats. Following the election victory, the Trinamool workers unleashed rampant violence against their political opponents, including BJP workers and those of CPM and even Congress. Several BJP karyakartas were killed brutally in the victory celebration by the TMC. In a gruesome incident, BJP’s Avijit Sarkar was lynched to death along with his pet puppies allegedly by the TMC’s bloodthirsty cadre.
In the state during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, 693 violent incidents and eleven deaths were reported, according to the MHA. Even after the elections, in which the BJP won a record 18 out of 42 seats, there were up to 852 reported instances of political violence between June 1 and December 31, 2019, which resulted in 61 deaths.
According to the MHA report, 663 occurrences with 57 deaths were registered in 2020. There were 23 violent occurrences in just the first week of January 2021, which resulted in two fatalities and 43 injuries. The report also stated that 23 persons from various political parties died in confrontations during the 2018 panchayat elections.
