West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee to visit violence-hit Birbhum today; BJP demands central probe

Describing the incident as "unfortunate", she said, "It was an attempt by the BJP, Left and the Congress to malign our government. Strict action will be taken against all those responsible for the Birbhum incident, irrespective of their (political) colour.”

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will visit the violence-hit Birbhum district where at least eight people, including two children, were charred to death and several houses were set ablaze in a possible fallout of a village panchayat deputy chief’s murder.

The TMC chief had said o Wednesday that she would visit Bogtui village, where the shocking incident took place. She also assured that strict action would be taken against the perpetrators of violence in the Birbhum district.

Describing the incident as "unfortunate", she said, "It was an attempt by the BJP, Left and the Congress to malign our government. Strict action will be taken against all those responsible for the Birbhum incident, irrespective of their (political) colour.” "We have already removed the (police) Officer-in-Charge, the SDPO and other senior officers. The DGP is in the district since yesterday," she underlined.

Referring to past incidents of violence in other states, she said that her party MPs were stopped at the airport in Assam, where they had gone to protest NRC implementation, and entry wasn't allowed in UP's Hathras and Unnao (where gang-rape cases occurred), too, but her government would never do the same.

"This is Bengal, not UP. We allowed everyone to visit Birbhum. "Not justifying the Birbhum killings, but such incidents are more frequent in UP, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan," she said.