New Delhi: West Bengal minister Jakir Hossain was seriously injured after unidentified attackers hurled a crude bomb at him at the Nimtita railway station in Murshidabad district on Wednesday night.
At least two other persons, who were with the Trinamool Congress MLA from Jangipur, were also injured in the incident.
Senior minister and TMC leader Malay Ghatak held “political rivals of the party” responsible for the attack, but others claimed that it is the result of an internal feud.
Hossain, the state’s labour minister, was waiting at platform no 2 of the station to catch a train to Kolkata at around 10 pm when he was attacked, a senior police officer of West Bengal Police told news agency PTI.
“We have started an investigation,” the officer said, adding that a large police contingent was posted at Nimtita railway station.
The minister and the two other injured persons were taken to Jangipur sub-divisional hospital, he said.
An official of the hospital said that the minister suffered “injuries to his legs and lower abdominal part. We are trying to stabilise him before shifting him to a hospital in Kolkata.”
TMC leader Ghatak told PTI that Hossain is a very popular leader in Murshidabad. “He has successfully conducted rallies where thousands of people participated. It is the work of our political rivals. They wanted to kill Jakir,” Ghatak said.
The TMC’s Murshidabad district president Abu Taher Khan accused the BJP or the Congress of being involved in the attack.
However, the sabhadhipati of the Murshidabad Zilla Parishad, Mosharaf Hossain – who was expelled from the TMC earlier in the day – claimed that the attack was the result of an internal party feud.
BJP state party president Dilip Ghosh condemned the attack on Hossain. “This shows that West Bengal is not safe even for ministers. The law and order has totally failed,” Ghosh said.
West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who hails from the Murshidabad district, said, “Jakir is an honest leader unlike several others in the TMC in Murshidabad. I know him personally. I request the state government to arrest the culprits as soon as possible.”
According to the Indian Express, Chowdhury claimed that Hossain was attacked because “he was opposed to cow smuggling and corruption in the district”.
Hossain was previously with the Congress and joined the TMC ahead of the 2016 assembly elections. The state is gearing up for elections this year, scheduled to be held in April or May.
‘Preplanned attack’: Mamata
Responding to the attack on Hossain, chief minister Mamata Banerjee alleged the bomb attack against the state minister was part of a conspiracy as certain people were “pressuring” him to switch over to another party.
Banerjee, who went to the SSKM hospital to inquire after his condition following Wednesday’s incident, slammed the railways for its “lacklustre” way of functioning.
“It is a conspiracy. Some people (party) were pressuring Jakir Hossian to join them for the last few months. I don’t want to disclose anything more as investigation is on,” Banerjee told reporters, adding that it was “a preplanned attack”.
The attackers apparently knew about Hossain’s movement and must have been following him, she said, and pinned the blame on railways for “security lapses”.
“How can the railways deny their responsibility over security lapses when the attack happened at a railway station? There were no security personnel at the station at the time of the attack. There was no light, it was completely dark. What was the railway police doing?” she asked.
The state government has handed over the case to the crime investigation department (CID), and announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for those seriously injured in the explosion and Rs one lakh for people who received minor injuries.
Banerjee refuted the opposition claim of worsening law and order situation, saying the incident took place inside a railway station, premises that belong to the Centre.
(With PTI inputs)