Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Wednesday said West Bengal is burning due to violence during Ram Navami while Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is busy playing politics in Delhi.

“The whole of Bengal is burning and Mamata ji is busy doing politics in Delhi. We strongly deplore this,” Javadekar said at a press meet called by his Bharatiya Janata Party.

“Mamata Banerjee is enacting ‘Nero fiddled while Rome burned’ in Delhi. You may play politics if you so wish, but first douse the fire in Bengal which the goons of your own Trinamool Congress (TMC) have ignited,” the senior BJP leader said after making a presentation of the images of violence from the state.

A clash broke out between two groups over a Ram Navami procession at Raniganj in Asansol on Monday. A person was allegedly hacked to death while a Deputy Commissioner of Police lost a hand after being hit by a bomb. Several shops and houses were vandalised and set ablaze during the procession.

Javadekar blamed the Mamata-led TMC for the attacks on ‘Ram bhakts’. “People had come out in large numbers for the procession and this did not go down well with the TMC goons. Police could not take any action and instead were attacked by the TMC workers,” the Union Minister said.

“Law and order has failed in West Bengal. (General) Election is next year. First go to Bengal and bring the situation under control and then do whatever politics you want to do. We will surely reply to that politics,” said Javadekar.

BJP’s Bengal leader Rupa Ganguly claimed that Mamata Banerjee had come to Delhi after telling reporters in Bengal that she would go there and seek central help and meet Ministers but once in the national capital she is busy playing politics for the Third Front. “She is not able to handle her work,” Ganguly said.

Ganguly, a former TV actress, said the violence in Bengal was pre-planned and it began with an official ban order on carrying of firearms/weapons during the Ram Navami procession, which was resented by many.

Earlier in the day, the Ministry of Home Affairs asked the West Bengal government for a report on the violence.