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Day after EC notice for appealing to minorities, CM Mamata challenges poll panel
It was a high-pitched Thursday in West Bengal with top leaders of both the ruling Trinamool Congress and its arch-rival the Bharatiya Janata Party sharpening their attacks against each other, as the campaign period for the fourth phase of polls came to an end.
A day after the Election Commission of India sent a notice to the Trinamool Congress chief for appealing to minority voters to prevent their votes from being divided; West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee challenged the poll panel on Thursday.
The poll panel had given her 48-hours, which ends on Friday, to respond to the notice failing which the commission said that it shall take a decision without further reference to her.
“Listen carefully. It doesn’t matter even if I am served 10 show-cause notices. My answer would be the same. I am telling everyone. There should be no split in votes. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians vote in a united manner. Don’t cast a single vote in their (BJP) favour,” Banerjee said, while addressing a rally at Domjur in Howrah.
“She has to give an explanation to the ECI. She is not above the law. There is a difference in what she said today and what she had said on April 3. Today she has appealed to all sections. Earlier, she had urged the Muslims to not allow a split in their votes, for which she was served a notice. If she has the guts, she should repeat that,” said Jay Prakash Majumdar, state vice president of BJP.
It was a high-pitched Thursday in West Bengal with top leaders of both the ruling Trinamool Congress and its arch-rival the Bharatiya Janata Party sharpening their attacks against each other, as the campaign period for the fourth phase of polls came to an end.
A purported video of a TMC minister went viral in which the leader could be allegedly seen threatening a monk during a campaign in Jalpaiguri district, that the latter would be evicted if he opposes the TMC and supports the BJP.
“If you oppose us, you will be evicted from here. My name is Goutam Deb and I keep my word. Don’t support the BJP. That can be done in Modi’s state,” Deb, the TMCs candidate from Dabgram-Fulbari, allegedly said.
Soon after, the BJP hit back while the Election Commission of India sought a report from the district authorities.
“He has lost his mental balance. He will lose by a greater margin this time. They (TMC) think that West Bengal is outside India and beyond the federal structure. This is TMC,” said Samik Bhattacharya, BJP spokesperson.
In separate rallies while chief minister Mamata Banerjee alleged that central forces were harassing women and threatening villages on the instructions of the Union home ministry, BJPs state president Dilip Ghosh threatened that those implicating BJP workers in false cases would have to go to Assam, Tripura or Bangladesh if the BJP won the assembly polls.
“I am not blaming the central forces. The home ministry has instructed the central forces to threaten villagers. After the campaign period is over they are harassing women and men are being threatened in villages. They are telling people to vote for BJP,” Banerjee said.
In another rally, Banerjee directly blamed the Union home minister saying the central forces were threatening villagers on Shah’s instructions.
She, however, said that she holds no grudge against the central forces and considers them as friends. The TMC chief also said that the BJP was using the ECI in whatever way it felt like.
“I would just like to tell them that they shouldn’t threaten the people on the instructions of the BJP. Amit Shah has sent them and has asked them to threaten villagers to vote in BJP’s favour,” she added from another rally in the same district.
“Even a few years ago Banerjee had placed her faith on central forces and the ECI. Now she is abusing and insulting them. This proves that she has become jittery and is certain of her defeat. These won’t help her in anyway as the people of Bengal have decided to oust the TMC,” said Samik Bhattacharya, BJP spokesperson.
Dilip Ghosh, while addressing a public rally in north Bengal said: “Those who are still implicating (BJP workers and supporters) in false cases will have to go to either Assam or Tripura or find a place in Bangladesh after the elections.”
In all, 44 assembly seats in six districts, including Kolkata, in both south Bengal and north Bengal would go to polls in the fourth phase on April 6.
Other leaders including Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan also hit the streets. Bachchan had come to Bengal to campaign for the TMC.
Yogi Adityanath, while addressing a rally at Hooghly said that the BJP would set up anti-romeo squads on the lines of Uttar Pradesh.
“Anti-romeo squads would be formed (in West Bengal) after May 2 to tackle goons who loiter near girls’ schools,” Yogi Adityanath said while addressing a rally in Hooghly.
The BJP was denied permission to hold a roadshow flaunting Bollywood actor Mithun Chakraborty at Behala Paschim in Kolkata’s fringes. Chakraborty had recently joined the BJP and has participated in around 40 roadshows till date. Party workers staged a demonstration outside the Parnasree police station alleging that the police was acting on TMC’s instructions.
“The BJP candidate should know that after elections are announced the police don’t take instructions from the state government. They come under the ECI,” said Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, TMC MP.
