Abhishek Banerjee hits back at Amit Shah over Anandapur fire deaths

Trinamool Congress (TMC) all-India general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday strongly criticised Union home minister Amit Shah over his remarks on the Anandapur warehouse fire in West Bengal, countering that the Centre must also accept responsibility for deaths allegedly linked to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Shah had earlier targeted chief minister Mamata Banerjee, holding the state government accountable for the deaths of 25 people in the Anandapur fire and accusing it of shielding those responsible. Responding to the charge, Abhishek Banerjee said that if the state government was being blamed for the fire fatalities, then the central government should be held answerable for what he claimed were 140 deaths caused by fear and distress during the SIR process.

“If the state government is responsible for 25 deaths, then isn’t the central government responsible for the 140 deaths linked to the SIR exercise?” Banerjee said, accusing the BJP of indulging in what he described as “vulture politics over dead bodies”.

Speaking to reporters outside Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata, Banerjee said the state police had acted swiftly after the Anandapur incident, arresting the factory owner soon after the fire. He dismissed BJP allegations as politically motivated, claiming that party leaders were stepping up visits to Bengal with elections approaching.

“The people will give their answer,” he said, adding that it was not possible for a government to constantly monitor activities inside private warehouses. According to Banerjee, the district administration and state authorities took prompt action once the incident came to light and would not spare anyone else found guilty, regardless of their status.

The TMC leader also accused the BJP of hypocrisy, referring to fugitive businessman Nirav Modi, who he said had travelled abroad with the Prime Minister before later fleeing the country after being accused of major financial fraud. Comparing this with criticism of industrialists travelling with state leaders, Banerjee said politicising a tragedy was an old BJP tactic.

In a separate attack, Banerjee questioned the Centre and the Election Commission over claims of large numbers of infiltrators in West Bengal’s voter lists. He said the BJP had alleged that over a crore Rohingya and other undocumented migrants would be removed, but the draft electoral roll had not reflected such claims.

“If there were so many infiltrators, why is there no mention of them in the draft voter list?” he asked, alleging that the Centre and the Election Commission were deliberately creating fear and attempting to malign Bengal’s image.

Banerjee also accused the central government of financial discrimination against West Bengal, demanding that it publicly disclose how much funding the state had received over the past decade. He called for a detailed “report card” outlining allocations for rural roads, housing schemes and other development projects.

With IANS inputs