Despite knowing that a militant attack was about to take place, Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not try to prevent it in Pulwama, said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Addressing a meeting of the Trinamool Congress [TMC] here on Monday, Ms. Banerjee asked why the Prime Minister did not play a pro-active role in stopping the attack.
“You [Mr. Modi] knew that the attack would take place. Intelligence input was there. But they [jawans] were neither airlifted, nor was there any naka checking or road checking. Everyone was allowed to move freely. Why? In order to take advantage during the election. Now Modi is trying play a game of war,” Ms. Banerjee said.
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The State BJP criticised Ms. Banerjee’s allegation and called it ‘baseless.’
This is the first time that she has directly blamed the PM for the Pulwama attack that killed over 40 CRPF jawans.
“At a time, when the country is trying to counter the forces which carried out such an attack, she is raising questions...is she for the country or for Pakistan,” asked Dilip Ghosh, the State president of the BJP.
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“They [BJP] are calling people and offering money to join the party. Where is this money coming from,” Ms. Banerjee said.
She also accused the BJP of instigating Hindus against the Muslims.
“They [BJP] have bought burqha and are making [miscreants] wear those. Then they are spreading rumour that these are cheledhora [child abductors]. The objective of doing this is to turn the Hindu community against the Muslims and we have been informed about such incidents,” Ms. Banerjee said and asked the party leaders to maintain calm.
“Resist such moves but do not take the law into your hands. Complain to the police and if they do not act come to my house...report to me directly,” she said.
She named some of the senior leaders, like TMC’s Secretary General Partha Chatterjee and asked why men are allowed to “organise bike rally after midnight” in various areas.
“Why such rallies are allowed? Who goes out so late at night other than miscreants…are you scared? Are you feeling that you are weak,” she asked the leaders and insisted that the party has to be “energised.”
“If we can defeat the Left Front government of three decades, the BJP is a party of five years and there is no reason why we cannot [defeat it].” Ms. Banerjee gave a call to capture “42 out of 42 seats” in Bengal and formed committees to monitor “use and abuse” of Electronic Voting Machines and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail [VVPAT].