TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee like a kid, got everything on a platter, says BJP Bengal president

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) West Bengal president Dilip Ghosh hit back at TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee on Monday for calling him a ruffian.

Banerjee, a TMC MP, and also chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, had on Sunday also dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders to take his name instead of referring to him as bhaipo (nephew in Bengal) or bhatija (nephew in Hindi) in their public speeches.

“So what if we lovingly call him Bhaipo (nephew)? Does he want to be named Pappu? I don’t call him Bhaipo. I call him khokababu (kid). Those people who gave their sweat and blood for the party are now outcast whereas he got everything on a platter,” said Dilip Ghosh, state BJP president.

Banerjee had tagged Ghosh as a ruffian and mafia while addressing a rally in the former’s constituency in South Parganas on Sunday. On Monday Ghosh, through a lawyer, sent a legal notice to Banerjee demanding an unconditional apology.

The BJP leadership also continued to attack the TMC, alleging that under the latter’s regime, terrorists were using the state as a corridor to disrupt peace across the country and that the ruling party was trying to transform West Bengal into West Bangladesh.

“It is because of West Bengal that peace is being disturbed across India. Activists from al-Qaeda, SIMI and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen enter West Bengal and then fan out across the country. These infiltrators and Rohingyas are connected to every bomb blast,” Ghosh said.

“The maximum property has been damaged in West Bengal. Infiltrators from Bangladesh are sitting here and damaging property of the country. Didi has made them voters and if you say anything against them, you would be tagged as communal,” he added

“We were stripped of our belongings when we were coming to India. My sister who was coming with my parents was taken away. We never saw her again. A conspiracy is going on to make West Bengal into West Bangladesh and bring those days back,” he said.

The TMC hit back, saying that it was one of the many irresponsible statements made by Ghosh and that the TMC is not taking it seriously. “As usual, Ghosh has made yet another irresponsible statement. West Bengal will remain as it is, no matter what Ghosh says. It’s a habit of the BJP to speak about infiltrators every time. We are rubbishing such statements,” said Saugata Roy, TMC MP.

Other political parties, including the Congress and the CPIM, also lashed out at the BJP. “It is strange that despite having the RAW, IB and NIA, the Centre knows nothing about this conspiracy of transforming West Bengal into West Bangladesh but Ghosh came to know about it. The Parliament and country should know about this. The politics of infiltration from Bangladesh has become stale. The BJP maintains different stands on such issues in different states,” said Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha.

“Ghosh had earlier said that the BJP would transform West Bengal into Gujarat. West Bengal would neither become Gujarat nor West Bangladesh. It would remain the way it is,” said Md Salim, CPIM politburo member.