Bengal: BJP demands probe after man commits suicide due to NRC scare

Kolkata, Oct 29 (IANS) The BJP has demanded a proper investigation into the actual reason behind the suicide of a 57-year-old man, identified as Pradeep Kar, at Panihati in North 24 Parganas district, reportedly out of fear of being affected by a possible National Register of Citizens (NRC) in West Bengal.

The BJP had also questioned the timing of the development, considering that an announcement for a special intensive revision had already been made, and the groundwork for the exercise had started from November 4.

BJP’s Information Technology Cell chief and the party’s central observer for West Bengal, Amit Malviya, had stated that the cause of suicide can and must be determined only by the law and investigating agencies, not through political rhetoric.

“Let’s also get the facts right — there is NO NRC anywhere in the country. Mamata Banerjee is lying and deliberately spreading panic to stoke fear among people for political gain,” his statement read.

He had also said that the fear factor of the Trinamool Congress, that SIR would expose the rot in the West Bengal administration and mark the beginning of the Trinamool Congress’s political downfall, is prompting the state’s ruling party and Chief Minister to spread such lies.

On Tuesday, both the Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress’s general secretary Abhishek Banerjee accused the BJP and the Union government of spreading a sense of fear and division by using NRC as a tool, where people are often made to doubt their own right to existence, the reflection of which was felt in the suicide of Kar.

Trinamool Congress leadership had been describing the SIR as an indirect ploy by the BJP and the Union government to slap the NRC in West Bengal.

State BJP leader Sisir Bajorria said that a proper and unbiased investigation will reveal the real reason behind the suicide of Kar.

He said that even if the fear factor prompted Kar to commit suicide, only Trinamool Congress and the Chief Minister are responsible for that since they are responsible for spreading a false sense of fear among by putting SIR and NRC in the same bracket.

Pro-BJP social media influencer and YouTube content creator Sanmoy Banerjee questioned who would decide whether the suicide note recovered from near Kar’s body, where he claimed NRC was the reason behind his death, was written by him.

According to him, the ruling party was desperately looking for an immediate suicide so that NRC could be linked with that.

He also questioned whether any suicide in West Bengal will be henceforth linked to the NRC.

--IANS

src/dan