Accusing the BJP of engineering riots to win elections, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday urged the gathering at a rally in South 24 Parganas to take a vow not to allow any split in minority votes.
Ms. Banerjee targeted the Indian Secular Front (ISF), an ally of the Left and Congress, and said they are out to split the minority votes to help the BJP. West Bengal has about 27.01 % minority population according to the last census that has largely supported Trinamool Congress.
South 24 Parganas where Ms. Banerjee addressed several public meetings in the day though a stronghold of the ruling party, has seen the ISF fielding maximum number of candidates. In all her public meeting Ms Banerjee accused the BJP of trying to engineer communal strife and urged people to be watchful.
“If a tiger comes into your locality. It will attack both Hindus and Muslims. Both Hindus and Muslim will have to fight the tiger,” Ms Banerjee said at a public meeting at Canning.
Earlier in the day at a public meeting at Raidighi she said, “I am a devout Hindu who recites Chandi mantra every day before leaving home. But I believe in our tradition of giving respect to every religion.”
The Chief Minister also explained that she did not nominate actor Deboshree Roy from Raidighi as she was not liked by the people.
The TMC chairperson also raised the issue of Citizenship Amendment Act and said, that if the BJP is voted to power, the party will implement the Act and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), forcing “many citizens to leave”.
“They will divide West Bengal and its people. Remember how they deleted the names of 14 lakh Bengalis and 2 lakh Biharis in the updated NRC in Assam,” Ms. Banerjee said.
Meanwhile, the State leadership of BJP filed a complaint against Ms. Banerjee at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer in Kolkata alleging that she has violated model code of conduct by making provocative statements. Ms. Banerjee, during a public rally at Kulpi said why should people go to rallies of BJP leaders including Amit Shah for ₹500.
Mr. Modi, who also campaigned in the State on Saturday said such remarks of people taking money to turn up at BJP rallies are an insult to the people of West Bengal.
