“Poriborton,” the BJP slogan said. So did the voters of West Bengal echoed as they called for change. But the visuals of arson, mayhem, and violence emerging from West Bengal tell a different story. There is little to suggest any real shift. The same poll violence in Bengal that once dominated the BJP’s attacks on the state’s law and order appears far from over, even as the saffron party registered a landslide win. Day 1 of the new dawn saw horrific murder and mayhem across West Bengal.
As election results started coming in on Monday, reports and visuals of clashes began to surface. The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday claimed that “BJP cadres hacked to death one of its workers in Birbhum’s Nanoor“. The West Bengal Police said TMC offices in Tollygunge and Kasba in Kolkata, and in places like Baruipur, Kamarhati, Baranagar, Howrah, and Baharampur were vandalised by mobs since Monday afternoon, according to news agency PTI.
On social media, multiple viral videos showed mobs, armed with bamboo sticks and lathis, chasing people whom the Trinamool Congress (TMC) claimed were their workers. Some visuals of people being beat up for allegedly supporting the TMC have also surfaced. In another instance, the TMC alleged that “flag-bearing BJP thugs” were going door to door, threatening non-veg shop owners and biryani sellers, asking them to shut down, relocate, and even erase their names.
According to India Today Digital’s assessment, poll-related violence took place in at least a dozen places in West Bengal on the day of counting on Monday (May 4), and on Tuesday (May 5).
Outgoing Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, announced a probe by a 10-member fact-finding committee.
MEDIEVAL BARBARITY ON DAY 1 ITSELF, CLAIMS TRINAMOOL CONGRESS
“This is happening in Bengal, today, right now. This is the Poriborton BJP has dragged to this soil. The nightmare has already begun,” the Trinamool Congress handle said on X on Tuesday, terming these incidents as “medieval barbarity”.
“Yesterday, Suvendu Adhikari openly threatened that the Trinamool Congress would be finished within 24 hours. Today, we are seeing exactly what he meant,” the Trinamool Congress handle said on X in a separate post.
While BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya on Tuesday urged the administration to act firmly against perpetrators of post-poll violence, irrespective of political affiliation, party leader Rahul Sinha rejected the TMC’s allegations of BJP workers being involved in vandalism. He suggested the incidents could be the handiwork of rival factions within the TMC, who were venting their frustration against party leaders after the election results.
Political violence has long been a feature of elections in West Bengal. It was a mainstay during the Left rule (1977-2011) and then intensified during the Trinamool Congress rule. Repeated reports of clashes, intimidation, and cadre-driven conflicts during polls have surfaced from West Bengal over the decades.
In the last few elections in West Bengal, when the Trinamool Congress was in power, poll-related violence claimed several lives. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, at least six people were killed in West Bengal.
In the 2021 Assembly elections, around 17 people were killed during the polling period. Additional deaths were reported after the polls and the BJP claimed at least six of its workers were killed by TMC cadres.
The 2018 Panchayat elections were among the deadliest polls in the state, and saw 75 deaths. The 2016 Assembly elections saw roughly eight deaths during the poll process.
The BJP, then in the Opposition, consistently targeted the Trinamool over what it called a breakdown of law and order, accusing it of fostering a culture of violence to influence electoral outcomes. Leaders of the BJP frequently raised the issue in campaigns and demanded intervention of the Centre. The BJP positioned itself as an alternative that would restore order.
BENGAL SAW PEACEFUL ELECTION, THOUSANDS OF CAPF PERSONNEL ON DUTY
The Election Commission, which had been in charge of law and order and public order in West Bengal since the imposition of the Model Code of Conduct a few weeks ago, said the election process was largely peaceful, with “no deaths and no large-scale violence” reported. The poll body called it a “noteworthy achievement” of the police and central forces.
During elections, the Election Commission of India assumes control over the administration, including law and order, from the date the Model Code of Conduct comes into force. The control continues until the completion of the election process, which includes the announcement of results and, in some cases, a short period thereafter until a transfer of power to the newly-elected government is formally concluded.
However, the law and order situation appears to have deteriorated in West Bengal after the results were declared on Monday.
As many as 700 companies or 70,000 personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) were deployed in West Bengal till “further orders”, an official of the Election Commission of India said on Wednesday (April 29), even as the second and final phase of polling concluded on the same day, reported The Hindu newspaper.
PM MODI CALLED FOR BADLAV, NOT BADLA, IN BENGAL
“When the BJP has won, the focus should not be on revenge but on change; not on retaliation, but on the future,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his victory speech in New Delhi. He urged party workers to end the cycle of violence and asked people to rise above who voted for whom, and instead work towards Bengal’s development.
Calling the BJP’s landslide a “resounding expression of unwavering faith”, he said it had uprooted the politics of fear, appeasement, and violence. Yet, the Prime Minister’s message seems to have been lost on many in Bengal, cutting across party lines, as reports of clashes, arson, and even a brutal killing, as alleged by the Trinamool Congress, surfaced.
Amid these developments, BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya on Tuesday urged the administration to act firmly against those responsible for post-poll violence, irrespective of political affiliation.
BJP BLAMES BENGAL VIOLENCE ON TRINAMOOL FACTIONS
BJP leader Rahul Sinha said that the vandalism was done by rival factions within the TMC.
However, since Monday, incidents of violence in West Bengal have emerged irrespectively. Incidents of arson and vandalism at offices of the Trinamool were reported across West Bengal on Monday, as BJP workers celebrated their landslide victory in the state, news agency PTI reported.
On Monday, even as the results were being counted in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress members were attacked and the party’s offices were burnt down in Cooch Behar, Asansol and Howrah.
Responding to the violence, BJP MP from bengal, Arjun Singh, wrote on X, appealing to BJP supporters to maintain restraint and uphold law and order. Singh himself faces a litany of charges.
The Trinamool Congress’ Jadavpur MP, Saayoni Ghosh, said there were “incessant vandalism across Bengal, streets were empty, and the atmosphere was gloomy in the state.
“Destroying party offices one after one, physically assaulting candidates and workers infront of central forces, shutting shops, dismantling Maa canteens, men on bikes and their war cry, playing obscene songs on loudspeakers, threatening men and women across all sections of the society in the name of political victory,” Saayoni Ghosh posted on X.
The TMC, calling the incidents the “BJP’s version of Poriborton”, said, “The BJP has shown its true colours right after coming to power”.
“Their goons led a violent attack on our party office in Murshidabad. Vandalism and chaos. This is the real face of the BJP. This marks the BJP’s descent into gutter politics,” the Trinamol handle on X said.
POST-POLL VIOLENCE IN KOLKATA, SILIGURI; MURDER IN BIRBHUM
At the Bijoygarh-Netajjnagar area in Tollygunge, the election office of TMC candidate and former Minister Aroop Biswas was seen vandalised by a mob. Some among the crowd were seen kicking the broken hoarding before leaving.
At southern Kolkata’s Ruby Crossing, the office of TMC councillor Sushanta Ghosh was rampaged by a crowd holding BJP flags, news agency PTI reported.
Sharing a blurred video of a man’s body, with a pool of blood around him, Trinamool said, “Less than 24 hours into seizing power in Bengal, the BJP’s Harmad Bahini hacked a Trinamool Congress worker to death on the road in broad daylight in Nanoor, Birbhum. This is how they celebrate.”
“And where are the thousands of Central Forces stationed across Bengal, deployed at enormous expense in the name of peace and security? Standing by. Watching. Arms folded while our people are being butchered on the streets,” added the Trinamool Congress.
Sharing a video it said was from Diamond Harbour‘s Falta, where violence led to the postponement of polls, the Trinamool Congress claimed, “Armed BJP goons have vandalised our Party Office in Falta, Diamond Harbour”.
In Kolkata’s Beleghata, a local party office was attacked and block president Pabitra Biswas was allegedly assaulted, while the office of councillor Sushanta Ghosh was also damaged. In southern Kolkata’s Bijoygarh-Netajinagar area, the election office of former minister Aroop Biswas was ransacked, with visuals showing people kicking broken hoardings, reported The Indian Express newspaper.
Apart from these locations, post-poll violence also took place in Howrah’s Dumurjala, and Udaynarayanpur, where TMC offices were vandalised. TMC candidate Samir Panja was also allegedly assaulted. A Trinamool office was also vandalised in Berhampore (Murshidabad district).
Targeting of Trinamool Congress offices also took place in North 24 Parganas, West Midnapore’s Ghatal, Siliguri in northern Bengal and Jalpaiguri, the Mamata Banerjee-led party alleged. Clashes between Trinamool and BJP workers were reported at several places too.
BJP WORKER’S HOUSE ATTACKED IN NAIHATI; MAMATA ORDERS PROBE
In Naihati‘s Mamudpur a BJP worker’s house was allegedly attacked by TMC-backed miscreants, and three people were injured in the post-poll clashes, reported the Hindustan Times.
A day after the results were declared on Monday, Mamata Banerjee announced the formation of a 10-member fact-finding committee to visit areas “affected by post-poll violence” and assess the ground situation.
She dismissed allegations of post-poll violence in the 2021 West Bengal polls as baseless, news agency PTI reported.
However, the claims and counterclaims from both the BJP and the Trinamool Congress show how political violence in West Bengal remains entrenched across party lines. The electoral verdict in favour of the BJP signalled a political shift in West Bengal, the continued mayhem, clashes and even a claim of murder, suggests that the change in guard did not translate into a change in political culture on the ground.
For an election the EC called “peaceful”, with 70,000 CAPF on the ground and the Election Commission still in charge, it’s hard not to ask what’s wrong.
– Ends