Mamata Banerjee promises Rs 2 Lakh compensation for kin of WB post-poll violence victims

Breaking her silence over the post-poll violence in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday expressed remorse and promised Rs 2 lakh as compensation to the families of the victims without any discrimination on the basis of' caste, religion, organization, or party'. Explaining her point of discrimination, she pointed out that the Model Code of Conduct in the state was in operation till May 3 and during that time, 16 people were killed in total, of which 8 belonged to the Trinamool Congress while 8 were from the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). She also requested the BJP not to play politics over this. 

Highlighting that 'a little' violence post-poll is inevitable, she asserted that within 24 hours of the government being formed, ministers and teams hurled to the state. She went on to assert that the inability of the BJP to accept the mandate was the reason for the happening, and requested the saffron party to accept it, and not indulge in hate speech and hooliganism. She further said that the constituencies in which the BJP has won a large number of votes have been witnessing widescale hooliganism, and pointed out that she will not spare the offenders. 

She also took the opportunity to slam the BJP government on the COVID-situation. Pointing out that no teams were ever sent to monitor COVID or the vaccination drive as soon as they were sent to take stock of alleged violence, she went on to highlight that she hasn't yet received a reply from the PM over free vaccination while the Centre is busy getting new parliament and statues built. "Why are they not allotting Rs 30,000 crores for vaccines when they are making new Parliament and statues, spending Rs 20,000 crores?"

Mamata Banerjee takes oath

Amid reports of violence coming from all across, Banerjee took oath as the West Bengal CM for her 3rd consecutive term at the Raj Bhavan on Wednesday. Banerjee was administered the oath by West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar following her landslide victory in the recently-concluded assembly elections in the state. 

The BJP, which had boycotted the oath-taking ceremony in protest against the violence that has engulfed the state, conducted a separate oath-taking ceremony.  

West Bengal Assembly Election Results 2021

According to the Election Commission (EC), the TMC has won 213 seats while the BJP has garnered 77 seats in the 2021 assembly elections. Other alliances consisting of Congress-Left-ISF failed to bag even a single seat, while Independent candidates have bagged two seats. The results were a big leap for the saffron party which had won only 3 seats in the 2016 elections and has now managed to reach a vote share of 38.13% against TMC's 47.94%.

(Credit-PTI)