Highlighting a photograph of one of the accused in Parliament security breach case, Lalit Jha, with Trinamool MLA Tapas Roy, the West Bengal BJP leadership on Friday alleged association between the State’s ruling party and the accused.
BJP State president Sukanta Majumdar, Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya and MP Locket Chatterjee all lapped up the photograph and raised a volley of allegations against the Trinamool Congress.
“Lalit Jha, the mastermind of the attack on our Temple of Democracy, had been in close association with TMC’s Tapas Roy for a long time... Isn’t this proof enough for investigation into the connivance of the leader? @AITCofficial @TapasRoyAITC @abhishekaitc #shameontmc,” Mr. Sukanta Majumdar wrote on ‘X’.
Mr. Malviya said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee could not remain silent on Mr. Lalit Jha’s association with her senior party leader Mr. Roy. “It is not a surprise that TMC MPs, scared of their party’s association emerging with those who breached Parliament security, were creating ruckus. This is a new low even by TMC’s low standards,” the BJP leader said.
Quoting Mr. Malviya’s tweet, Mr. Adhikari alleged that “Mamata Banerjee has successfully created an ecosystem in West Bengal which nurtures Urban Naxals, encourages Tukde Tukde Gang, provides safe passage to illegal immigrants and intruders and facilitates their stay by helping create documentation.”
Trinamool’s claim
Reacting to the BJP’s attack, Mr. Roy said there were many people who get photographed with him and the photograph in question was from February 2020. The Trinamool MLA said that by raising the photograph, the BJP leadership was diverting the question about the security breach of Parliament. Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said the BJP leadership was trying to muddle waters by raising questions such as which city the accused lived and whom he knew without answering the question on how did the security breach happen.
“The question is how the accused were able to bypass the security of the Parliament and the role of the BJP MP who signed necessary passes for them,” Mr. Ghosh said. The Trinamool spokesperson said that for sharing her password of Parliament login Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra was expelled but no action had been taken against the BJP MP who had helped the accused to enter Parliament.
Meanwhile, more details about Mr. Lalit Jha, who was arrested from Delhi on Thursday emerged. Sonu Jha, brother of the accused who resides in Kolkata, said that his younger brother Mr. Lalit Jha graduated from Kolkata and was working as a private tutor in the city. The brother said the family was not keeping in touch with Lalit and came to know about his alleged involvement in the Parliament breach of security from news reports. The family also has a residence in Kolkata’s Baguiati area which remains locked. Locals said that Mr. Lalit Jha used to stay on rent at 218 Rabindra Sarani and used to teach students at the place. After the breach of security on December 13, Mr. Lalit Jha had forwarded the video outside Parliament to a student Nilakhya Aich, who was also questioned by investigators along with Mr. Sonu Jha.
