On Monday (April 17), West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stirred the hornet’s nest after she downplayed the post-poll violence, which claimed the lives of more than a dozen BJP workers.
She made the contentious remarks during a press conference at the State Secretariat. At about 5:30 minutes into the programme, she said, “They (BJP) are sending Central teams to West Bengal in the name of investigating post-poll violence.”
“This is despite the fact that the State was not under my control at that time. It was under the control of the Election Commission,” she further alleged.
Mamata Banerjee then went on to suggest that the 2021 post-poll violence, orchestrated by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) goons, were ‘small-time incidents’ that supposedly happen everywhere after elections.
“Koyekta choto choto ghotona ghote chilo election er por, samanno ghote thake sob jaigai (Some small-time incidents took place after elections. These happen all the time at other places),” she was heard as saying.
She also lamented how the Centre sent several fact-finding teams to the State, which had supposedly led to the ‘arrest’ of several TMC workers in false cases. “If something happens in Bengal, then, it does not mean that the government is responsible,” Mamata Banerjee refused to showcase accountability.
At about 33 minutes into the programme, she said, “Some incidents happened small-small (after elections) but the Centre sent all the teams (from Delhi). They arrested all of our boys and girls through agencies such as CBI, ED and Commissions.”
Mamata Banerjee demonises Ram Navami, alleges conspiracy for violence by BJP
During her press conference, she claimed that the Hindu devotees who took part in the Ram Navami procession were equipped with arms, tractors and bulldozers.
At about 6:40 minutes into the event, Mamata Banerjee alleged that they went from ‘area to area’ to create communal violence. It must be mentioned that the West Bengal Chief Minister had earlier given a clean chit to Islamists and absolved them of any wrongdoing during the Hindu festival.
At about 46 minutes into the press conference, she claimed that the violence committed during Ram Navami was ‘planned’ well in advance by the BJP. “They have a lot of plans. Don’t you think what happened in Howrah was engineered beforehand? Similar thing happened in 100 other places.”
West Bengal CM accuses BSF of conspiring with BJP in elections
During the event, the West Bengal CM also hit out at the Union government for increasing the area of jurisdiction of the Border Security Force (BSF) from 15 km to 50 km.
“Why did they do this? Because they know Panchayat elections are coming and that the new operation limit will cover several villages that will cast their vote. In this way, the BSF personnel can ‘harass’ the voters. They do this anyway,” she was heard saying at about 16:00 minutes into the press conference.
Later, at the 45-minute mark, Mamata Banerjee claimed, “Previously, we used to salute the BSF jawans. But BJP has turned BSF, CRPF ‘political’…The Central government is using them for their political work. They might harass TMC workers so that they cannot go out for election campaigning and do their work.”
“So we will not allow this. We have earlier announced that BSF cannot operate beyond 15km area from the international border. And West Bengal police will look into it,” she said.
It must be mentioned that Mamata Banerjee had asked her voters in Coochbear to gherao the Central forces and prevent them from performing their duties in the run-up to the 2021 Vidhan Sabha elections.
