India's national security advisor Ajit Doval met West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and told her that the state is sitting on a ticking time bomb and that the state government had to work with the Centre. He cautioned Mamata that the terror module unearthed after the Burdwan IED blast had far more sinister designs than believed, say sources.
The Narendra Modi government wanted West Bengal to allow more access to central agencies and march in to root out the terror network. It’s unprecedented for the NSA and NSG chief J N Choudhury to visit a state on the same day and just 48 hours after NIA boss Sharad Kumar personally inspected the terror hubs in Bengal and the India-Bangladesh border.
Doval’s visit coincided with reports in the evening that Yousuf Sheikh, one of the key leaders of the JMB terror module, may have been arrested on the India-Bangladesh border by a joint NIA and Kolkata Police STF team. Officers of both agencies refused to confirm the arrest, though.
The rush of so many security and intelligence chiefs along with several top home ministry officials to probe a case that was initially not taken seriously by state police and CID is sure to mount pressure on the Mamata government. Doval, who visited the Khagragarh blast site in Burdwan in the morning, flew down to Kolkata to meet Mamata, where the talks rolled on for over two hours.
Sources say Doval apprised Mamata about jihadis “playing havoc in Bengal” and pointed out how terror elements were using Bengal for their gain. He minced no words as he stated clearly how illegal madrassas were thriving in Bengal and were being used by jihadis to recruit and train terror operatives. Doval pointed out that it was wrong of the Bengal government not to raid the Simulia madrassa where jihadi training was conducted, saying it helped one of the key players Yousuf Sheikh to flee.
BJP's rise rattles TMC, three dead in clash
Meanwhile, the horrors of Keshpur and Nandigram returned to haunt Makra village in Birbhum as Trinamool Congress and BJP men fought for turf control, killing three people, including an 18-year-old. There were flashbacks of Nandigram as Trinamool, desperate to halt BJP's rapid march in these restive Muslim-dominated belts, tried the CPM tactic of using police as a shield to push its armed supporters into opposition-held territory. It backfired badly as BJP supporters fought back hard. Police were held at bay with bombs even as violence continued for over two hours in the village.
The armed takeover bid came just four days after the Parui police station in charge was bombed during a raid in Chowmandalpur village for hidden arms and explosives. The subsequent police crackdown lit a powder keg. This part of Bolpur subdivision had seen sporadic Trinamool-BJP violence and the Chowmandalapur attack proved to be the breaking point.
Birbhum, which bears a gory legacy of violence -the Suchpur and Nanoor massacres stand out -seems to be going through the same cycle again. Earlier, it was Congress and Trinamool that took on the ruling CPM. Now, it's BJP against Trinamool.
