After the recovery of arms and ammunition from the house of Abu Taleb, a kin of ruling TMC leader Hafizul Khan, by a joint team of the CBI and the Bomb Squad of the elite National Security Guard (NSG) from the Sarberia area of Sandeshkhali, BJP leader Dilip Ghosh said on Saturday the state has turned into a “safe haven for terrorists”.
Hafizul, it turns out, is an aide of expelled TMC strongman Sheikh Shahjahan, the alleged mastermind of the attack on an ED team in Sandeshkhali while it was raiding his house in connection with the ration ‘scam’ and a key accused in the ‘excesses’ on women and land grab in the island.
Speaking to media persons on Saturday, Ghosh, the BJP’s Lok Sabha nominee from the Purba Bardhaman constituency, said the people would rise against the TMC if it tried to hold on to power despite the state falling to the free-run of ‘terrorists’ and ‘goons’.
“Can you imagine the state of affairs in Bengal, where the CISF, CRPF, and BSF have to be brought in just to conduct elections? The CISF personnel are also being brought in to provide security cover to Opposition leaders. What has this state come to? Goons are enjoying a free run in the state and the police and paramilitary are seemingly struggling to put a leash on them. Central commandos are being called in to bring them to justice. It seems that this state has fallen to terrorists and goons. It has also become a hub of the corrupt, those who have looted public wealth. Even after all these, the TMC wants to keep hold of power. However, the people wouldn’t tolerate this and would rise against them,” Ghosh said.
Claiming that the recovery of arms and ammunition in Sandeshkhali points to a larger threat to national security, the former BJP state chief said, “When Shahjahan was with the CPI(M), he used to roam the streets with a pistol. Under the TMC, he moved around brazenly with an AK-47. He and his henchmen also had access to advanced weapons from overseas. If weapons are recovered from a border area like Sandeshkhali, then one can readily imagine the threat to national security. I urge the Centre to intervene in this matter. Those who attacked the ED and the NIA are terrorists and belong in jail.”
He alleged that Shahjahan would bring Rohingyas (minority Muslims who inhabit the Rakhine State of Myanmar) from across the border and help them settle in different parts of the country.
“Shahjahan used to bring Rohingyas from across the border. He would pitch camps for them here and provide them with food. We have been saying this repeatedly. The Zilla Parishad bore all the expenses (for helping the Rohingyas settle in the country). He (Shahjahan) was a panchayat member. He used to provide them with food throughout the year and send them in trucks to Basirhat and other parts of the country. This entire operation was carried out with the help of foreign connections. There was an international conspiracy behind it,” he added.
Amid Phase 2 polling for the Lok Sabha in the state, the CBI, along with NSG bomb squads, conducted searches at two premises in Sandeshkhali on Saturday in connection with the attack on ED officials earlier, and recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition, including foreign-made postal and revolvers.
The searches were conducted in Sandeshkhali and the North 24 Parganas district.