Even as violence flared up at Nanoor in West Bengal’s Birbhum district on Tuesday, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee reportedly directed the State administration to confront the sporadic incidents of violence across the State, adequately and impartially.
Early in the morning, there were clashes between supporters of the Trinamool Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) at Bashapara Bazaar near Nanoor, which soon spread to neighbouring villages, an official of the Nanoor police station told The Hindu over telephone.
“There was an exchange of bombs between armed supporters. The situation, though now under control, remains tense, and policemen are having to maintain a constant vigil,” he said.
Seventeen people were injured in the violence, said to be a turf war. The incident comes a day after there were similar clashes at Khanakul in Hooghly district that left several injured, including a policeman who was hit by a bullet in the leg.
While leaders of both parties blamed the cadres of the rival party for instigating the violence, supporters of the Trinamool Congress held demonstrations here to protest against the alleged attacks in Nanoor and elsewhere in recent times.
Referring to the violence at Nanoor while addressing a public gathering, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said the CPI(M) cadres had tried to force an entry there.
“Armed with bombs, guns and firearms, they are freely running about the place,” she said.
Biman Bose, Secretary of the West Bengal State Committee of the CPI(M), however, said the violence was part of the Trinamool’s conspiracy to destabilise law and order in the State.
The demonstrations by the Trinamool activists in the city too were a part of a conspiracy, he added.
“The Trinamool Congress has launched a state-wide programme to create anarchy, destroy democracy and deny people their democratic and individual rights. Even though the Trinamool Congress might not have officially announced it, that they are bent on carrying out this programme is evident from their action,” Mr. Bose said.
