Kolkata: West Bengal has become notorious for election-related violence and deaths over the years.
The state was shamed and shocked by another tragic incident on Monday, after a nine-year-old girl was killed in a bomb explosion in Nadia district.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) supporters were celebrating the victory of their candidate Alifa Ahmed in the by-election for Kaliganj Assembly constituency when a bomb was hurled, reportedly towards a CPM worker’s house.
Tamanna Khatun, a class IV student, was on way home from school when splinters from the crude bomb hit her in Kaliganj’s Molandighi area.
A bleeding Tamanna was rushed to a nearby health centre, but passed away on the way.
Police have arrested one person, identified as Aftab Sheikh.
Political blame game erupts
Even as TMC and Opposition parties like BJP and CPM indulged in a typical blame game, chief minister Mamata Banerjee assured a swift probe.
“I am shocked and deeply saddened at the death of a young girl in an explosion at Barochandgar in Krishnagar police district. My prayers and thoughts are with the family in their hour of grief. Police shall take strong and decisive legal action against the culprits at the earliest,” Mamata wrote on her X handle.
BJP’s IT cell head Amit Malviya said that the death was the blood price of Mamata’s violent, vote-bank driven politics.
“West Bengal has no law and order left. Mamata Banerjee, ironically the state’s home minister, has failed spectacularly as an administrator. Worse, she fuels radicalised politics to polarise and retain her Muslim vote bank – only for innocent children like Tamanna to pay with their lives. This is not governance. This is criminal neglect,” alleged Malviya.
BJP state secretary Jagannath Chattopadhyay posed the question as to why Trinamool supporters were celebrating with live bombs.
For the record, TMC candidate Alifa won by a margin of over 50,000 votes against her closest rival Ashish Ghosh, of BJP.
The by-election was necessitated by the death of sitting MLA Nasiruddin Ahmed.
The Election Commission of India has sought a detailed report of the tragic incident.
