Clash Between BJP and Trinamul Supporters Sparks Tensions in Alipurduar Hamlet

Following the Friday night demolition of the hutments of five BJP activists, there was a heated confrontation between BJP and Trinamul supporters on Saturday in an Alipurduar hamlet.

Officers raced to the Falakata block's Deogaon village to settle the situation.

According to sources, the BJP accused local Trinamul members of "arson" on Friday night after the hutments of the five BJP activists were destroyed in Deogaon. However, Trinamul denied any involvement in the fire and referred to it as an accident.

Manoj Tigga, the BJP candidate for the Alipurduar Lok Sabha seat, and Deepak Barman, the BJP MLA for Falakata, arrived in the hamlet on Saturday. But as soon as they arrived, some Trinamul supporters began yelling "go back" at the BJP legislators.

The pair, along with other party members who were with them, engaged in a verbal sparring match with Trinamul protesters. When more BJP supporters showed up, they started counter-sloganeering.

"The arson is being done by Trinamul. A two-wheeler and five of our supporters' homes were set on fire. According to Barman, who is also the party's convener in north Bengal, "the party has realized that it will not be able to win the Alipurduar seat this time and is thus resorting to violence to intimidate our people."

The Alipurduar seat was won by the BJP in 2019 by a margin of almost 2.43 lakh votes.

Supporters of Trinamul, meanwhile, said that the BJP was just attempting to incite locals against the state's governing party and that the accusations were without merit.

"We staged a demonstration in front of the local MLA and the BJP Lok Sabha candidate for this reason. It seems that there was an unintentional fire. However, the BJP is now politicising the issue and placing the blame unjustly on us. The Trinamul head of the Falakata block, Sanjoy Das, said, "They are misleading people."

A police squad arrived in the area and broke up the throng while the protesting from both sides persisted.

Alipurduar's superintendent of police, Y. Raghuvamshi, said that after the incident and the dousing of the flames by fire engines, police officials went to the scene.

"We've started looking into what started the fire. The fire has not turned up any evidence of a political link so far, the SP said.

According to an officer, the police were monitoring the area in order to avoid any unrest.