Over the last one month, the ruling Trinamool Congress party in West Bengal has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Although the law and order situation in West Bengal started deteriorating right after Mamata Banerjee took the reins as Chief Minister, off late incidents of violence and lawlessness have just exploded instilling fear in the minds of all the people in the state. Despite being a state ruled by a woman chief minister, West Bengal is also turning out to be unsafe for women.

On March 29, a bomb blast took place in Boria village No. 10 of Fulmalanch Gram Panchayat in Basanti of South 24 Parganas district. According to police sources, an explosion occurred at the house of Mofizuddin Sarkar where explosives materials were stored. The house caught fire as a result of the explosion. However, no casualty was reported from the incident.

Another case of lawlessness came to the fore on April 1 from Tehata village in North 24 Parganas district where two factions of the ruling Trinamool Congress clashed. The village turned into a battleground as bombs were hurled at the house of a local TMC activist. The miscreants tried to break the kitchen window and door of the house by bombing it.

According to sources, a mob led by TMC leaders Motaleb Ali and Ghaffar Ali attacked the houses of Prabhas Ghosh, Dilip Ghosh, Sanjit Ghosh and Hakim Moral, after they were accused of embezzling money.

The attackers came looking for Prabhas Ghosh at his house with the intention of killing him. However, on learning that he was not present at home, they hurled bombs at his house. A splinter of the bomb fell on Prabhas’ wife, thereby injuring her.

A case of women harassment was reported on April 14 from Burnpur in Paschim Bardhaman district of West Bengal. A TMC woman councilor was manhandled by some TMC party workers and leaders on April 12. Later, she took to social media to narrate her ordeal.

TMC Asansol Municipality’s 69th Ward Councilor accused some leaders and workers of her party of harassing her while she was giving information about the percentage of votes cast in her ward during the Asansol by-elections.

She added “Some of the leaders and workers of the party treated me unfairly while giving all the information. When I protest, I get the ultimate harassment. I feel insecure. If the leadership does not take appropriate action, I will lodge a complaint with the police.”

A few days later, another incident involving a Trinamool councilor was brought to light from Purba Bardhaman district. On April 17, a local daily Anandabazar Patrika reported that the husband of the Trinamool councilor member is accused of stealing soil from the mouth of the Damodar River. The incident was reported from Daluibazar Panchayat No. 2 of Memari No. 1 block of Purba Bardhaman. Grassroot TMC activists alleged that Gautam Roy was cutting soil from the river bank instead of extracting sand from his sand pit No. 6. Further, he was collecting the soil in 60-70 tractors and subsequently selling them for the last 7 years.

Due to this, the river is breaking and resulting in water crisis in the nearby area. However, Roy dismissed the allegations as ‘baseless’.

West Bengal is failing in terms of law and order situation, making anti-social elements bolder to conduct illegal activities. When the party promised “poriborton” to the people back in 2011, this is definitely not what they’d asked for.