West Bengal Chief Minister and All-India Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, in a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party, said on Wednesday that it only knew divisive politics.
“Divide and rule is the only politics the BJP has mastered. The saffron party creates rifts between Hindus and Muslims, Muslims and Christians, Biharis and Bengalis and Odias and Bengalis,” she told reporters at Puri.
Ms. Banerjee is on a three-day visit to Odisha.
“We will not allow the divisive politics to succeed. We always put India first in our politics. It is a fact that the BJP espouses a whole lot of issues, but they have nothing to do with the people,” she said.
On her reported comment supporting beef consumption, Ms. Banerjee said: “Nobody has the right to issue dietary prescriptions. The Constitution authored by B.R. Ambedkar is a secular one.”
Visits temple
In the evening, Ms. Banerjee went to Shree Jagannath Temple under tight security. A servitor had threatened to prevent her entry into the temple for openly supporting beef consumption.
