Bengal: Protests Erupt After Bomb Thrown From TMC Victory Rally Kills 10-Yr-Old Tamanna

Kolkata: Protests erupted in almost all districts of West Bengal after a 10-year-old girl Tamanna Khatun of Molandi village in Kaligunj of Nadia district, fell prey to a bomb explosion during a Trinamool Congress (TMC) rally to celebrate its victory in the Assembly bypolls. The child was reportedly taking a bath on the terrace of her house.

As per reports, the victory rally turned violent as TMC members hurled bombs at the homes of CPI(M) supporters. Tamanna was the daughter of Hossain Sheikh and Sabina, a family that has been long-time supporters of the Left party.

Tamanna, was a lively Class 4 student in the local primary school, and the only daughter of a migrant labourer father.

It may be recalled that in this bye-election, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) did not put up a candidate but supported the Congress candidate Kabiluddin Sheikh, as per the decision taken at Left Front. Four persons have been arrested, as per district police, though there are names of about 20 persons as accused in the FIR lodged by Tamanna’s father at the Kaligunj police station.

Sheikh had come to Molandi village from Odisha, where he is working as a migrant labourer, to cast his vote in the election and had gone back a day after the polling. Little did he know that he would lose in only daughter to violence during TMC’s victory rally.

 On Tuesday, thousands of common people along with leaders of Opposition parties of West Bengal sans the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took part in the funeral procession of the little girl.

Condemning the violence, CPI(M) state secretary Mohd Salim described the incident as an example of “TMC’s barbarism”. 

Sabina Bibi, the dead child’s mother, told reporters that her daughter had gone to the terrace to take a bath when “TMC hooligans threw a bomb that hit the child”.

Speaking with NewsClick, CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty alleged that even after winning the seat, the TMC enacted the “ghastly act of killing a child, targeting her, as she was the daughter of CPI(M) supporter parents. The bombs were thrown at the houses of Left supporters in the village.”

He said “political credentials are not important, what is important is that the common villagers’ houses have been attacked after the TMC victory. Now it is being reported that bombs had been arranged to make a concerted attack on houses of Leftists in the village.” He questioned whether the police had prior information that coordinated attacks would take place in that village. He alleged that it was “with police support that bombs stored for elections had been thrown towards Left supporters’ houses, as the police remained a mute spectator.”

Meanwhile, protests continue to be held across the state at the call of Left parties.

The Election Commission, too, has sought a detailed report in response to the bomb explosion that killed Tamanna.