West Bengal, one of the five Indian states where assembly elections were held recently, has witnessed large-scale post-election violence. These incidents should be properly inquired into and the perpetrators responsible should be punished exemplarily as they(the incidents) affect the image of India as a vibrant democracy, observers feel.

             The violence claimed several lives besides destruction of assets and properties worth lakhs of rupees. The most shocking among these incidents was the brutal killing of Chandranath Rath, a close aide and personal assistant(PA) to Suvendu Adhikari, the giant killer in the West Bengal elections who has now taken over as the new chief minister of the state. Adhikari had registered a stunning victory over the then chief minster Mamata Banerjee in Bhawanipur assembly constituency. ‘’Rath was eliminated only because I defeated Mamata in the polls’’, Adhikari said soon after his close aide was murdered clearly indicating about the possible hand of former ruling party Trinamul Conggress in the incident.

              Now he(Adhkari) has taken over the chief ministership, it is hoped that this particular murder case as well as other post- election violent incidents will be probed thoroughly and culprits would be punished adequately.

            Significantly, the gun used to eliminate Candranath has reportedly been banned in India. This has led to suspicion that services of hired killers from neighbouring Bangladesh could have been taken to execute the sensational murder. Trinamul Congress, the former ruling party, had always been charged with encouraging and sponsoring infiltration from Bangladesh side while in power.

          Chandranath was returning home when motorcycle borne assailants stopped his vehicle and fired at him from point blank range.

          West Bengal has a long history of post-election violence. Different political parties had always encouraged and sponsored them while in power. The Trinamul Congress was ruling the state for last fifteen years. Before that the eastern India state was being ruled by Congress and the left parties for decades. Now BJP has come to power in the state for the first time, it remains to be seen what steps the new administration initiates to end permanently the culture poll related violence which tarnishes not only the reputation of the state, but also the image of the entire country.

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