The three-member fact-finding delegation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who were detained here on Monday, lashed out at the state government for denying them entry to the violence-hit area in Kaliachak and asserted that they had come to Malda will the sole purpose of helping the people but failed to do so, as Section 144 had been imposed in the area.
"The District Magistrate told us himself that Section 144 had been imposed due to the law and order situation in the area. We said that we have not come here to destabilise the situation but to help the people. We want to know the truth," BJP MP (fact finding committee member) SS Ahluwalia told ANI.
Stating that the delegation had arrived to find the truth about the situation in Kaliachak, the fact-finding team expressed disappointment at not being allowed to enter the violence-hit area.
"It is unfortunate what happened in Kaliachak and it's for that, that our fact-finding team came here but we were not allowed to enter. The act of the West Bengal Government is condemnable. We have assessed what we could in an hour and we will submit our report to the Centre," BJP MP (fact finding committee member) Bhupender Yadav told the media here.
Asserting that the purpose of the BJP delegation was to restore confidence to the people in Kaliachak, Ahluwalia said that they wanted to assure them that nothing similar would happen in the future, but the 'pressure' from the State Government had stopped their endeavours.
"We came here to console the people and not to instigate them. But the District Magistrate told us that we are public figures and our appearance itself would be a problem. We will brief Amit Shah later about the situation," he added.
The delegation arrived in Malda at 6:15 a.m. in the morning and in a span of three hours returned back to Kolkata.