ANYWHERE in Bengal, you may suddenly face bomb blasts; in a remote village, in front of polling booths or in an early morning suburban train. The common thread is everywhere you will find a Trinamul connection.

The mysterious blasts in Khagragarh are still fresh in mind. On October 2, 2014 an explosion occurred in a house in the Khagragarh locality of Burdwan. Initially the state government and police just brushed away the whole episode as a trivial matter. But the NIA investigations have unearthed even terrorist links, routed to Bangladesh. Incidentally, the owner of the house in Khagragarh was a TMC leader and the ruling party ran an office there.

The memory was ignited in the first week of May as a powerful explosion in a house packed with explosives killed at least 12 people — several of them in their teens — and injured at least four more in Pingla's Brahmonbar village in West Midnapore . The blast was so powerful that the house was ripped to shreds and body parts were flung on trees or hurled hundreds of metres away. The chief minister quickly termed the incident as an accident in the cracker factory while making crackers for marriage parties. But the intensity of the blasts, the materials found in the vicinity and allegations from local villagers confirmed that it was a bomb-making factory. Villagers alleged in unison that the local TMC leaders were behind this heinous crime. The owner of the illegal factory, Ram Maity was also killed in the blast. He was a TMC man. The owner of the house Ranjan Maity was an influential local leader of the TMC, who was arrested in the following morning. The nexus between the TMC criminals and the police was evident. The police insisted that the dismembered body parts be retrieved in complete darkness and ordered fire truck headlights to be switched off.

It was also reported that the Intelligence Branch had warned nearly eight months ago that this illegal cracker factory is a façade to make bombs. But no follow up action was taken. It was also alleged after the blasts that huge amount of bombs were transported from Pingla to other areas of the state during municipal elections. The villagers squarely blamed officer in-charge of Pingla police station as an abettor of the crime. He was alleged to have  taken regular payments from the factory. In the face of peoples’ anger, he was ‘closed’.

Suryakanta Misra, CPI(M) state secretary visited the spot along with other Party leaders. Hundreds of villagers thronged to meet him and expressed their grievances. They alleged that the TMC was running a reign of terror in the entire area and the police refused to take any action against the illegal factory even after repeated complaints from them. The villagers described horrific details of how police tried to chase them away from the blast-spot and took away dead bodies. Locals accused the police of trying to hide the body count. Misra assured the villagers that CPI(M) and the Left are with them.  Misra demanded an impartial probe under court monitoring.

A delegation of Left Front, led by Biman Basu also visited the area. The police tried to block their visit though it was foiled by the insistence of the villagers. Later Left leaders also addressed a public meeting in the nearby area and demanded a thorough probe into the incident.

Even before the shock of Pingla blast could be overcome, another blast took place in Ketugram. The powerful blast destroyed a house, at that time unoccupied. Two women, working nearby were injured. A huge pile of bombs and explosives was stored in the house. The owner of the house, Sanjaoy Ghosh is a known TMC-affiliated criminal. Ghosh who was staying in nearby Katwa town, is believed to have been active in violence in the municipal elections in Katwa. The polling day in Katwa was marred by massive violence, with armed gangs openly roaming with guns in the street.

There was no respite and the state witnessed an unprecedented horror in an early morning suburban train. The gang war between two criminal groups culminated in bomb blast in Krishnanagar local, in Titagurh. It was reported that two groups clashed in the train compartment and in the process a powerful bomb blast took place. At least 20 were injured, most of them are passengers. Some passengers jumped from the running train to save their lives. The criminal who was carrying the bomb was also severely injured. The train compartment turned into a pool of blood.

And, once again the TMC connection came to light. The injured criminal Raja Das was arrested in the hospital. Raja, a history-sheeter in Barrackpore area, is a TMC man. He was instrumental in terrorising various wards in Barrackpore during recently held municipal elections and led the TMC gangs in capturing booths in Ward No 17 and 18 in the Barrackpore municipality. The entire stretch from Kamarhati to Kanchrapara witnessed large scale violence, terror and rigging in the polls.

One after another incident points to the fact that criminals are being patronised by the ruling party in West Bengal and they in turn are feeling that it is their reign now.