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Will boycott Opposition meet on Jan 13, says Mamata Banerjee
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, however, has insisted that she will continue opposing the CAA and an all-India National Register of Citizens.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said she will not attend a meeting called by the Congress on January 13 that is expected to discuss issues such as an attack by masked assailants on the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus in New Delhi and the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA, which triggered violent protests in several parts of the country last month.
In the state assembly, Banerjee, leader of the Trinamool Congress, also accused the Congress and the Left parties of incidents of violence in the state during a 24-hour nationwide shutdown, dealing a blow to the hopes of opposition bloc to put up a united front against the Centre’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the meeting in the national capital.
West Bengal reported incidents of arson during a nationwide strike called by trade unions on Wednesday. Opposition parties have blamed the ruling Trinamool Congress for staging violence to implicate them.
“You people follow one policy in West Bengal and a totally contradictory policy in Delhi. I don’t want to be on the same page with you. If needed, I will fight alone,” Banerjee said in the assembly, where some members from the Opposition demanded a Kerala-like resolution against the CAA.
In the one-day special session, Banerjee also sought “forgiveness” of opposition leaders who will attend the meeting called by Gandhi, saying, “It was I who had mooted the idea”.
Banerjee, however, insisted that she will continue opposing the CAA and an all-India National Register of Citizens. Soon after addressing the assembly, Banerjee left for Barasat in North 24-Parganas district to address a rally against the citizenship law.
The state unit of the BJP welcomed Banerjee’s remarks in the assembly. “Banerjee seems to have realised that she is a chief minister, and not an opposition leader. Instead of leading rallies against a law of the country every day, she should enforce it,” BJP Bengal unit president Dilip Ghosh said, as he prepared for a rally at Jhargram in West Midnapore district along with Union minister Giriraj Singh in support of the CAA.
The Left and the Congress alleged Banerjee’s statements were aimed at “pleasing the BJP leadership”.
“She is trying to please the BJP leaders. She herself is adopting double standards,” Congress leader Abdul Mannan, who is also the leader of the opposition in the assembly, said.
Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), politburo member Mohammed Salim accused Banerjee of attempting to scuttle the opposition’s efforts to come on a common platform over “burning issues”.
