Panchayat polls: Bengal Guv complains of getting 'filtered' info about violence

Kolkata: West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose on Monday complained of receiving 'filtered' information from the state administration regarding the ongoing incidents of violence and clashes over the forthcoming panchayat elections scheduled on July 8.

“Several pockets in north Bengal have been on the boil over the panchayat polls. But I am being sent filtered information. So I have decided to directly interact with the common people and get information from Ground Zero. I would like to speak to the wounded people and the family members of the deceased. I know how far their lives have been affected by poll-related violence,” the Governor told mediapersons in Siliguri during his four-day north Bengal tour.

Bose said that besides Darjeeling district, he also intends to visit the other violence-prone areas in the other districts of north Bengal such as North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur, Malda and Jalpaiguri.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress’ state vice-president Jaiprakash Majumdar called the Governor’s visit biased.

“He is going only to those places where the victims are from the opposition parties. It seems that he is planning his tours as per the directions of state BJP. Such politically-motivated moves are not acceptable,” Majumdar said.

On Monday, the Governor had gone to the North Bengal University in Siliguri, where he was shown black flags by the members of Trinamool Chhatra Parishad, the student’s wing of Trinamool Congress.