Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday blamed Union home minister Amit Shah for the hostage-taking of judicial officers during protests in West Bengal’s Malda against voter deletion as part of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), and demanded his resignation. She claimed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wanted to derail the April 23-29 assembly elections and impose President’s rule.
“Amit Shah entirely did it...the entire conspiracy... using the ECI [Election Commission of India]. He has to resign. I am demanding the resignation of the Union home minister,” she said at an election rally in Murshidabad’s Sagardighi.
Banerjee said the ECI has failed to maintain law and order, and hostage-taking was not her fault. “The administration is not in my hands anymore. It is the ECI’s fault. They transferred officers but failed to control the situation and protect the judicial officers. I condemn them,” she said.
She insisted the hostage-taking was pre-planned. “They [BJP] are conspiring to stall the elections. They are flagging one incident and alleging that the law and order have deteriorated across the state. If you allow one incident to happen, the entire state would be maligned.”
Banerjee warned people against taking the law into their own hands. “The CBI [Central Bureau of Investigation] and NIA [National Investigation Agency] will arrest you before the polls. They have deleted the names of many voters. Whatever remains will also go away. The law is not in my hands. They have snatched all my powers. The ECI is running a super President’s rule by snatching all my powers,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}Banerjee warned people against taking the law into their own hands. “The CBI [Central Bureau of Investigation] and NIA [National Investigation Agency] will arrest you before the polls. They have deleted the names of many voters. Whatever remains will also go away. The law is not in my hands. They have snatched all my powers. The ECI is running a super President’s rule by snatching all my powers,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}Banerjee said she was unaware of the Malda incident until late in the night, as the administration did not inform her. She claimed to have gotten the information from a journalist around midnight. “The newly appointed chief secretary never called. They do not share any information with me.”
The comments came as the Supreme Court deprecated the “complete failure of civil and police administration” in West Bengal. It took suo motu cognisance of the hostage-taking and described it as a “deplorable” and “calculated, well-planned” attempt to browbeat the judiciary and challenge the Supreme Court’s authority.
The Supreme Court asked the ECI to hand over the probe into the hostage-taking to a federal agency. It issued notices to West Bengal’s chief secretary, police chief, home secretary, and district officials to explain why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them.