E-Paper
BJP MP lodges complaint against TMC minister over remark on Prez, Targets Mamata
BJP MP Locket Chatterjee said till now Mamata Banerjee hasn’t issued any statements despite she being a woman and her party leader insulting a tribal woman who is sitting on the highest chair of our Nation
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of Parliament (MP), Locket Chatterjee on Sunday lodged a police complaint against West Bengal minister Akhil Giri over his controversial remarks against President Droupadi Murmu and said chief minister Mamata Banerjee should sack him and issue a statement on the matter.
Giri on Saturday drew a barrage of criticism including from the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) for his controversial remarks on President Droupadi Murmu. Chatterjee lodged a complaint with the North Avenue police station in New Delhi against Giri for his statements.
“Till now Mamata Banerjee hasn’t issued any statements despite she being a woman and her party leader insulting a tribal woman who is sitting on the highest chair of our Nation. She (Mamata) should immediately issue a statement. Had it been an incident involving a woman in Uttar Pradesh, she would have sent a team of MPs and intellectuals would have held a candle march. She should immediately sack Giri,” Chatterjee, MP from Hooghly in West Bengal, told reporters in Delhi.
“Akhil Giri must come to Delhi and apologise to the President by touching her feet in front of Rashtrapati Bhavan so that the country may see,”she told reporters outside the police station in Delhi.
“You are requested to take immediate action and treat this complaint as an FIR and take necessary action against Akhil Giri under Sections 3(1)(r), 3(1)(s), 3(1)(u) and 3(1)(w)(ii) of the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989 and sections 153A and 509 of the Indian Penal Code,” she said in her police complaint.
Giri has apologised for his comment but the BJP kept up the pressure even on Sunday, bringing out protest rallies at multiple places in West Bengal including Khanakul in Hooghly and Toofanganj in Cooch Behar. BJP supporters also staged a sit-in demonstration in front of the minister’s house at Contai in East Midnapore. At Bankura, the state’s junior food minister Jyotsna Mandi’s car was caught up in a protest staged by the tribal community.
“The TMC has already condemned Giri’s remarks and has clarified that the party does not endorse such statements. I was there in the gathering where Giri had made the statements on Friday. We had voiced our protest on the spot and Giri was told to end his speech. He made the statements after coming in constant fire from the leader of the state legislative assembly,” said Shashi Panja, West Bengal’s women and child development minister.
Meanwhile, the TMC too upped its ante against BJP legislator Suvendu Adhikary while tweeting a video in which Adhikary could be purposedly seen making a statement against a woman minister of the Mamata Banerjee government.
Adhikary, who went to attend a rally at Lalgarh on Sunday couldn’t reach the rally spot after Birbaha Hansha, state self-help group and self-employment minister staged a sit-in demonstration on the road.
“They are children. Debnath Hansada (TMC legislator) and Birbaha, who are sitting there, are children. They remain under my shoes,” Adhikary could be seen purportedly saying in the video.
“Akhil Giri has done wrong. We strongly condemn that. But what about this? Birbaha Hansda is Hon’ble Minister also. BJP should condemn SA for his language. Kindly consider his earlier words, DG’s Bermuda statement and NM’s ‘Ooooooo Didi’ In a eve teaser tone also,” tweeted Kunal Ghosh, TMC spokesperson.
