Kolkata, 23 May

Barely two days ahead of the parliamentary polls, a woman BJP worker was killed in Nandigram in West Bengal's Purba Medinipur district, triggering large-scale protests by the saffron party activists there on Thursday, police said.

The region, which falls under the Tamluk Lok Sabha seat and is considered to be the backyard of Bengal’s Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, is scheduled to vote on May 25 in the sixth phase of the elections.

BJP workers burnt tyres, blocked roads and pulled down shutters of shops in Nandigram, alleging that the TMC-backed criminals were involved in the killing of Rathibala Arhi (38), a saffron party worker in Sonachura village.

A large contingent of police and RAF have been deployed in the area to control the rioting mob, police said. No arrests in connection with the alleged murder have taken place yet. The saffron camp called a bandh in Nadigram as part of its protest but withdrew it later, a local BJP leader said.

Arhi was killed and several others were injured after unidentified and armed motorcycle-borne assailants attacked them late Wednesday night, a police officer said. “Arhi and several other party workers were tasked with the job of guarding a local polling booth last night after poll campaigns in the area ended for the day. TMC-backed criminals attacked them. She was murdered and others were left badly injured,” BJP’s district general secretary Meghnadh Paul told PTI.

Among the seven people reportedly injured, the condition of one was critical and the person was shifted to a hospital in Kolkata, he said. TMC leader in Nandigram, Swadesh Das, dismissed the allegations, claiming, “There were some family disputes and the killing could be the consequence of that.”

Another senior officer of district police said that an investigation into the killing of the woman is underway.

Taking to his social media handle X, Adhikari, in an oblique reference to TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee’s public speech in the area on Wednesday, alleged, “The bloodshed was a direct fallout of Bhaipo (nephew)’s provocation in Nandigram yesterday. The barbaric murder was orchestrated by the Trinamool after realising its certain defeat. The hands of the jihadis do not tremble before hacking a woman to death.” “The BJP will see this through to its end, exact revenge in a legal manner and respond by democratic means,” he added.

BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya posted on his microblogging site, "Such violence is unacceptable in a democracy. Mamata Banerjee must be held accountable for provocative statements and subsequent action by criminal members of her party. We will fight and ensure justice for Rathibala Arhi and all victims."

In an apparent dig at the Election Commission, Malviya added, "But when will the commission take note of Mamata Banerjee's repeated communal and murderous statements? After the election is over?"

TMC leader Santanu Sen, however, called the incident a “reflection of BJP’s internal feud between the party’s old-timers and its new recruits in Nandigram”. “The BJP realises that come Saturday it will fare badly from the region. In its desperation, the BJP is trying to pin the reflections of its factional fights on the Trinamool,” Sen counter-alleged.