Abhishek Banerjee alleges BJP role in Murshidabad violence, urges calm

Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party, in collusion with a former TMC leader, was behind the recent violence in Beldanga in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district. He appealed to residents to maintain peace and communal harmony, saying attempts were being made to deliberately provoke unrest.

Banerjee was addressing a public rally in Baharampur, the district headquarters, after leading a roadshow in the area. Referring to the violence, he said several people had advised him to cancel the programme, but he chose to go ahead.

“I was asked not to hold today’s meeting after the Beldanga incident, but cancelling it would have only encouraged those who are trying to spread unrest,” he said, alleging that the violence had been instigated by the BJP with the help of a “traitor”.

Without naming him initially, Banerjee said the individual had already been expelled from the party and would soon be exposed publicly. He later named Humayun Kabir, accusing him of dividing people for political gain and warning that such politics would be rejected by voters.

Urging residents not to fall prey to provocation, Banerjee said the state administration had been instructed to take strict action against those involved in arson and attacks, including an assault on a woman television journalist during the unrest.

The TMC leader also referred to the death of a Bengali-speaking migrant worker from Murshidabad in Jharkhand, which sparked protests in Beldanga. He said the matter had been taken up with the Jharkhand chief minister’s office and reiterated that his party had consistently supported migrant workers facing harassment outside West Bengal.

Banerjee said Baharampur MP Yusuf Pathan and the local MLA would visit the deceased worker’s family. He added that the West Bengal government had announced Rs 2 lakh in compensation and a government job for the victim’s wife.

Launching a fresh attack on former Baharampur Congress MP Adhir Chowdhury, Banerjee described him as a “dummy candidate” of the BJP and accused him of remaining silent on issues such as the alleged harassment of Bengali-speaking migrants and the deletion of voters’ names during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

He claimed that the TMC would win all 22 Assembly seats in Murshidabad district in the 2026 state elections and accused the Election Commission of ignoring complaints of intimidation during voter verification.

“The Election Commission has become a commission of harassment,” Banerjee alleged.

He further claimed that the Centre had withheld funds for central schemes such as the Jal Jeevan Mission and Awas Yojana, forcing the state to finance projects on its own. According to him, around 20 lakh people would receive houses within the next 15 days under a state-funded programme.

Referring to river erosion in Murshidabad, Banerjee accused the central government of obstructing rehabilitation efforts, saying West Bengal did not require projects named after national leaders if they came with hurdles attached.

With PTI inputs