'Will Behead Pro-Pakistan Slogan Shouters,' Says Bengal BJP Chief

BJP slams Mamata Banerjee for her pro-minority politics is old news, not unexpected after near-riots in Birbhum on Tuesday. The Bengal chief of the BJP, who visited the district the day after, did just that.

But, he also suddenly brought Pakistan into the equation, "Those who will say Pakistan zindabad here, they will be made 6 inches shorter," said Dilip Ghosh of BJP, clearly referring to a beheading. He was speaking at a BJP rally at Suri on Wednesday outside the district administration's office.

"They will be put six feet under. I am telling you today. Times have changed. Bengal will burn and BJP will not sit silently," he added. Putting someone "six feet under" means burying him or her.

On Tuesday, a mob, angered by a Facebook post allegedly attacking the Prophet, stoned the Ilambazar police station, police cars and public buses. Police used tear gas, batons and rubber bullets to disperse the mob.  Some locals claim bullets were also fired but police deny that.   

Singed by similar trouble at Malda in January, Trinamool workers were silent on Birbhum under orders from the top, say sources. But after the BJP's thrust, the party's grass root level leaders hit back.

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"The BJP and CPM mostly and the RSS, they came from other villages and provoked people to  attack the police and riot in the market place," said Hasibur Rehman, a booth 'sabhapati' or chief of Trinamool in the Ilambazar area. "I was there. I saw some of them," he added.  

Mr Rehman's comments came during a visit to Bhagawatibazar, a village about a kilometre from the site of Tuesday's clashes. He had come to visit the home of Rezaul Mondal, the man who was killed in Tuesday's clashes. The gloves are off in poll-bound Bengal and Birbhum may not be the last clash in the state before the votes are counted.

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