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Bengal is notoriously prone to political violence. It didn’t start with TMC-BJP rivalry

The murder of Suvendu Adhikari’s aide, Chandranath Rath, has shaken both the political stakeholders and the civil society.

A bloody new chapter has just begun in West Bengal’s dark history of political violence. Trouble had started soon after the BJP won a decisive mandate on 4 May, dislodging the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC from power, with sporadic incidents of political violence reported from across the state. 

But what has shaken both the political stakeholders and the civil society is the murder of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari’s personal assistant in Madhyamgram, two days after the party’s historic win in the Assembly election. It brought back fears of a vicious cycle of political violence like what the state witnessed after the 2021 Assembly polls.   

It will take some time before all political stakeholders in West Bengal begin following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for ‘badlav’ (change), and not ‘badla’ (revenge), in his victory speech after the election results.

Of the four bullets fired at Chandranath Rath, the personal assistant of Adhikari, three hit him. Rath was in a moving car in Madhyamgram at approximately 10:30 pm on 6 May when the attack took place. The suspects reportedly followed his car and opened fire as it slowed down. Visuals showed the car’s left front window cracked with bullet holes.

The murder of Rath, considered part of Adhikari’s inner circle, has shaken the state. While the police have detained three people for questioning, the BJP has pointed to the abysmal state of law and order under the outgoing Mamata Banerjee government that has led to such killings.

Rath’s murder is not the only such incident after 4 May. The........

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