As per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, 2018, Mamata Banerjee led West Bengal has topped the number of incidents of acid attacks.
The state has the highest incidents of acid attacks. Out of the total 228 acid attacks recorded against 240 victims in the entire country, West Bengal accounted for 50 incidents involving 53 victims.
In the year 2017, West Bengal stood at second position after Uttar Pradesh, but the state improved substantially after the Yogi government came to power.
West Bengal recorded the second-highest number of incidents despite the fact- its population is almost half of UP. “An analysis of NCRB report for the past five years reveals that West Bengal has recorded highest number of acid attacks most of the times followed by Uttar Pradesh. The reason [for the high number of attacks] has been same for the past five years [which is] lack of monitoring of the sale of acid on the part of police and security agencies,” said Dibyaloke Rai Chaudhuri, coordinator- headquarters, Acid Survivors & Women Welfare Foundation, told The Hindu.
Talking about the political violence in West Bengal, the state had a culture of political violence since the late 1970s when the Communist government came to power. The state has maintained the top position in the ‘not so proud to rank high’ list for decades. The Communist Party members carried out acts of political violence against the people belonging to different ideologies, and even the dissenters of their own party ranks.
With a total of 12 people killed for political reasons, West Bengal accounts for 25 per cent of the total 54 political murders.
After Mamata Banerjee came to power in 2011, there was a general perception that the culture of political violence will end in the state. But in the last 9 years, it has become very clear that the Mamata Banerjee-led party’s karyakartas owned up the culture of political violence, and now these acts also targeted the workers of BJP, the resurgent political force of the state which won 18 seats out of 42.
The killing of BJP and RSS workers in West Bengal has become a ritual since the party became a serious contender to Mamata Banerjee’s rule. TMC goons seem to be on a killing spree of BJP/RSS workers. Mamata Banerjee and her party supporters’ authoritarian streak were on the full swing since the West Bengal Panchayat elections. It seems that not much has changed since then.
In Mamata ruled West Bengal, it is a crime to disagree with her ideology. TMC workers have been running riot in the state and it seems that being a BJP worker or a Hindu is considered a felony in the state. TMC workers are acting as executioners on a rampage against the BJP workers.
It seems as if West Bengal is not being administered by a democratic government but by an extremist entity. One has to conduct himself according to the whims and fancies of the TMC workers or be ready to face the wrath of its goons who are unleashing terror across West Bengal. Illegal arrests, political murders and state-sponsored violence have been blatantly used by the Mamata government in order to oppress the Hindus and the BJP workers living in the state. Hindus have been openly denied their religious states in order to appease a particular community. West Bengal does not seem to represent the ideals of a secular India but an Islamo-fascist nation. Whenever a political murder or violence against the opposition party workers/leaders is carried out, the TMC worker, the chief minister of the state is either in denial or blames it on the opposition.
When Mamata Banerjee, who was earlier a Congress leader, came to power, people expected that the state will democratize under her reign. Given the fact, Congress posed itself as Centrist party in West Bengal as Communist parties have taken over the leftist space, the political analysts expected that the politics of the state will move towards Centre. But in the last 9 years, it had been very much evident that Mamata Banerjee has positioned her ‘left of left’. She handpicked all the traits through which left ruled the state for more than 34 years and reining in the state through these illegitimate means.