It is no more a so-called ‘veiled attack’, but a clear warning from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP at the Centre. Ms. Banerjee has said the ruling party at the Centre is trying to ‘destabilise’ Bengal and that the State government will ‘not tolerate’ such interventions.
While talking exclusively to a Bengali channel, News Time, Ms. Banerjee said the BJP started ‘disturbing the peace’ soon after coming to power in Delhi, and ‘strong action’ would be initiated against any party or individual indulging in communal or linguistic disharmony.
While reiterating that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) will now dispatch fact-finding teams to BJP-ruled states, Ms. Banerjee said, “Bengal’s courtesy should not be mistaken as its weakness.” Her interview came right after her speech in the Assembly where Ms. Banerjee warned against rise of communal forces in the State. On Sunday, she was reacting to the incident in Hooghly district.
While blaming the representatives of the worker’s union affiliated to the CPI (M) and the BJP, Ms. Banerjee gave her political analysis of the growing violence in the State. “There was no violence in the State, everything was peaceful. Since the BJP came to power in Delhi, this thing (violence) started. The harmads (goons) of the CPI (M) had drawn a conspiratorial plan with the BJP and implementing such action,” Ms. Banerjee said.
She reiterated that a section of the CPI (M) was ‘increasingly joining the BJP to mastermind’ such violence. “The CPI (M)’s men are joining the BJP, thinking that the BJP will save them. But there is no BJP in Bengal, which they both need to understand,” Ms. Banerjee said.
Reiterating that the BJP is ‘disturbing’ peace in Bengal, Ms. Banerjee said, “The party at the Centre is constantly trying to divide people in Bengal on basis of religion. ”
“The BJP’s fact-finding team came to the State. A day before the visit and also on the day of the visit, the violence erupted – I can visualise a clear connection,” Ms. Banerjee said. “This is a game to capture the State using terror and violence, but Bengal can not be captured using terror,” she said.
“I will send a TMC team to every BJP-ruled State on a fact-finding mission as and when there will be an incident. There can not be one set of law for one and another for the other,” Ms. Banerjee said.
