A senior Trinamool Congress leader has alleged that the Centre’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has plans to impose President’s rule in West Bengal ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. In an interview to Economic Times, Rajya Sabha MP and TMC’s national spokesperson Sukhendu Shekhar Roy claimed that the BJP has devised an all-round strategy to achieve this objective.
According to the TMC MP, the BJP plans to separate North Bengal from the rest of the state, often expressing concerns over the state’s law, using the CBI and other agencies, and using the governor as “an agent of the Center and the BJP party”. working with.
‘Preparing to divide Bengal’
Roy said, “The Union Home Minister during his recent visit chose North Bengal for his rally. The central government is trying to divide the country from within and cut off North Bengal from the rest of the state, as they know. Without doing this, they cannot win. If it is not so, how can the party MLAs raise the issue of separate North Bengal from the stage in the presence of the Union Home Minister?”
‘Questioning law and order is also part of the plan’
According to the TMC MP, the second plan is to continuously question and express concern about the law and order situation in Bengal. He said, “Recently after the death of BJP youth wing leader Arjun Chaurasia, the Home Minister reached the spot and demanded a CBI inquiry. The issue of post-poll violence was raised time and again. PILs have been filed in violence, laughing gang rape and every other incident.” Roy claimed that the Mamata Banerjee-led Bengal government has taken prompt action in all these incidents.
‘Using central agencies’
According to Roy, the third strategy is the BJP using central agencies against leaders and ministers of Bengal after the Trinamool Congress’s landslide victory in the assembly elections in May 2021. He said, “After the results of May 2, several senior Trinamool ministers were arrested in connection with the Narada case. At the same time, BJP Leader of Opposition (LOP) Suvendu Adhikari, who was seen taking bribe on camera, was not even summoned by the CBI. ”
‘Governor is working against the government’
According to him the fourth plan is to use the office of the Governor in Bengal. Roy said, “The Governor of Bengal has been tweeting, holding press conferences against the state government, giving interviews to local and national media, summoning the Chief Secretary from time to time. Presently no governor has done this. The governor is acting as an agent of the ruling party at the Center and interfering in the work of the state.”
Roy alleged that, “There is a clear game plan to impose President’s rule six months before the Lok Sabha elections and take over all executive power by the Governor so that the Lok Sabha elections can be manipulated.”