BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar on Tuesday wrote a letter to Union home minister Amit Shah, demanding an NIA probe into the Patharpratima explosion at an allegedly illegal fireworks unit on Monday night.
“I urge your distinguished office to commission the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the explosion,” Majumdar wrote in his letter to Shah.
“It is crucial to determine the origins of these explosives, hold those responsible accountable, and dismantle any networks involved in illicit arms and production,”
he added.
Another explosion claiming several lives — allowing the BJP to demand yet another NIA probe in Bengal — has emerged as an embarrassment for the Trinamool Congress. Many TMC insiders pointed out the lack of police sincerity in uprooting such illegal units, although chief minister Mamata Banerjee repeatedly instructed the authorities to take necessary action after previous incidents.
“Explosions in fireworks factories are, sadly, not new. They happen in other states, too. However, the incident in Patharpratima is embarrassing as it occurred in a house and claimed many lives, including those of children. Didi (Mamata) has repeatedly told the police to shut down such illegal units. But this incident proves that not much was taken seriously,” a TMC insider said.
Several local residents accused the police of having full knowledge of the fireworks unit operating in the Banik family’s house for years, yet failing to shut it down.
Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, claimed that the police deliberately omitted charges under the Explosives Act to prevent the NIA from taking up the investigation.
“The first step to erasing evidence has already been taken. Now, you will see (TMC leaders) Bankim Hazra and Manturam Pakhira, accompanied by the district magistrate, visiting the spot and handing out ₹2 lakh as compensation,” Adhikari said.
After the explosion in North 24-Parganas’s Duttapukur in August 2023, which killed nine people, the inspector-in-charge and another police officer were suspended as Mamata questioned the role of the police.
“On television channels, we see interviews with residents who accused the police of colluding with fireworks manufacturers in Patharpratima. Many claim that these units are used to manufacture bombs. Had the police sealed the unit earlier, the party wouldn’t have faced embarrassment,” a TMC leader in Calcutta said.
Several TMC leaders pointed out that the chief minister was previously forced to apologise to the people of Khadikul village in East Midnapore’s Egra, while delivering compensation to the families of 12 victims killed in an illegal fireworks factory explosion in 2023.
The TMC attacked the BJP by citing an explosion at a fireworks factory in Gujarat’s Banaskantha, where at least 18 people were killed on Tuesday.
“If BJP leaders like Sukanta Majumdar or Suvendu Adhikari demand an NIA probe into the Patharpratima incident, they should also call for the same in Gujarat, where even more people lost their lives in a fireworks factory explosion today,” Trinamool state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said.
