West Bengal: TMC minister gives public lesson on bomb making

Kolkata: Once upon a time, freedom fighters from erstwhile undivided Bengal were pioneers in the art of making crude bombs which they had used quite effectively against the British Raj in India.

In the decades since independence, that art has been used in settling scores in local politics and West Bengal has often been accused of having turned bomb making into an industry.

In recent years, the central agency NIA has carried out investigations into several cases of explosions in different parts of West Bengal. There have been claims that Islamic terrorist groups are involved in some of these blasts.

Opposition parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have claimed that West Bengal has become a hotbed of the bomb making industry.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Sougata Roy however, has made a spirited, if somewhat misdirected attempt at dispelling that reputation.

Addressing the media on Sunday, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader gave out the formula which is widely used for making deadly crude bombs across West Bengal.

“The bomb making formula of the 1960s is still in use, it has not been updated yet. Were bombs not made in West Bengal before? Were bombs were not available when the CPI (M) or Congress were in power? Science has progressed since then. The bomb making formula we saw in the sixties remains the same,” Sougata Roy said.

“Bombs are made with potassium chlorate, potash and arsenic tri sulphide by twisting coconut rope in a metal box. It has always been this way. I saw it in the 1960s. This formula must have been in use during the 1950s as well. Therefore, the claim by the opposition that West Bengal has made progress in the bomb industry or has become a hotbed of the bomb industry, is completely false,” the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader added.

“Making bombs is not a big deal.”

However, the opposition parties BJP and CPI (M) have slammed this statement by Sougata Roy.

“If he is a bomb expert, then he should get a job in the NIA. Once upon a time revolutionaries in Bengal used to make bombs and attack the British. Now bombs are being used to loot votes. Being used to scare people. A senior MP like that is teaching the
youth how to make bombs,” state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said.

Taking a dig at the ‘Duare Sarkar’ (government at door steps) scheme of the West Bengal government, the BJP leader said, “It seems that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government of West Bengal will launch a ‘Duare Bomb’ project in the coming days.”

CPI (M) leader Sujan Chakraborty said, ‘He is a professor. He is an expert in taking bribes, everyone knows that. But, maybe not everyone knew that he has become an expert in the formula for making bombs.”

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