The West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday came out strongly against the Trinamool Congress for its alleged links with the Parliamentary security breach mastermind Lalit Jha who was arrested on Thursday night at the Kartavya Path police station in New Delhi.
Suvendu Adhikari, West Bengal’s Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly, today charged that Lalit Jha was an active member of the Trinamool Youth Congress, which is headed by Abhishek Banerjee, MP and nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
“Lalit Jha is an active member of the Trinamool Youth Congress and was a regular and active participant in all party programmes in the Baranagar area of Kolkata,” charged Suvendu Adhikari, in a party programme in Haldia even as the BJP shared pictures on its official X handle of Lalit Jha with different Trinamool leaders.
Along with posting the pictures, the party said: “Arrests have been made in connection with the security breach at Parliament, including Lalit Jha. However, photos with TMC MLA Tapas Roy, TMC Youth Congress General Secretary Soumya Bakshi, and TMC Leader Rajesh Shukla suggest a disturbing connection. The pictures subtly hint at TMC’s deep involvement in the security breach. Why is Mamata Banerjee silent on this matter? What could be the reason behind her silence?”
Meanwhile, Lalit Jha’s elder brother Sambhu Jha disclaimed all knowledge of his younger brother’s political connections. “He is a very good boy, very helpful and respectful. I don’t know how he got into this or who instigated him. He has studied in Kolkata all his life and is a science graduate.
He was a teacher who coached students privately and also taught in a small school near Kolkata airport.”
The Kolkata Police is already probing Lalit Jha’s antecedents even as sources said a Delhi Police team was also on its way to the city as part of a wider probe given that the attackers hail from different States.
Sources said police sleuths were also combing at least two areas in the city – Rabindra Sarani near Burrabazar and Jyangra-Baguiati near Kolkata airport – where Jha used to stay.
Jha, popularly known as Masterji, reportedly resided till about 18 months back in a rented single room of a four-storeyed building. But he left abruptly after earning some reputation as a private tutor. Jha stayed here for over four years, locals claimed.
Sources said that the Delhi Police team would also speak to Nilaksha Aich – a second-year Bidhannagar Government College student and linked to at least two NGOs – with whom Lalit Jha shared a video of the Parliamentary action.
Detectives from Kolkata Police and Barrackpore Police Commissionerate have questioned Aich who runs an NGO called Sammobadi Subhas Sabha about how he came in contact with Jha, the nature of his organisation and why Jha chose him to send the video within minutes of the act.
Aich is the president of this NGO that reportedly works on tribal education in Bengal’s Purulia-Jhargram (Jangalmahal) districts while Jha worked briefly as its secretary, claimed sources close to Aich. Aich had also founded another NGO named Azad Hind Association.
Aich claimed he was in college when he received the video. “Lalit didn’t call me but sent me a video on WhatsApp of the protesters on the road outside Parliament using the smoke torches. He sent me the video between 1 pm and 2 pm. I saw the whole coverage after I returned home. He asked me to keep the video with me. He is not a close friend of mine. I run an NGO that works for tribal development. Jha was a member of that organization. I came across him for the first time in April, he said.