Housing Minister Gautam Deb took a dig at the Election Commission of India on Thursday,objecting to the comments of Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi that the law and order in West Bengal is a matter of concern. Of course,we are very concerned, Quraishi had said at a media conference in the second week of January regarding law and order in West Bengal. Quraishi will have to answer this,in a hasty manner he has insulted the people of the state, Deb said,addressing a rally in front of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. He said if law and order in Bengal is in a bad state,it should be reflected in the number of murders,rape,violence against women and SC/ST,but that has not been the case. The minister said he has gone through the executive summary of the 2009 report of Crime in India and there has been no mention of West Bengal. Deb also criticised the Trinamool reaction to the violence in Hills,where the party has blamed the CPM for instigating violence so elections are not held in time. Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee,he said,remains mum on the violence in the hills and on the Maoist issue. If fact,she says there are no Maoists only Marxists. Then why are the CPM workers getting killed every day? he demanded. Referring to the slew of programmes announced by the railway minister,he said till January 11,Mamata has held 184 railway functions.
