Kolkata: In a veiled dig at the BJP, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday asked people in her state to welcome those from other parts of the country.
Banerjee made the comments while addressing a public meeting at Kanksa in Paschim Bardhaman district.
“We will not differentiate (outsiders) on the basis of their religion, states, castes. Bengal is a land of Rabindranath Tagore and Nazrul Islam. We respect Ambedkar, Gandhiji, Swami Vivekananda, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. We will not allow divisive politics in Bengal. Those who indulge in divisiveness, people will teach them a lesson politically,” she said.
Taking a veiled dig at the BJP-led Rajasthan government, she said, “Unlike few states, we don’t differentiate people based on their place of origin. A lot of people from other states work in Bengal. Embrace them as we consider them our own. Our people will go to other places, people from other States will come to Bengal – isn’t this normal? We cannot drive others away from Bengal. We love them.”
“A Dalit man was killed in Gujarat because he went to a dandiya festival. They did not allow Padmavati to release. An innocent man was burned alive in Rajasthan. How long can we allow these incidents to continue?” she added.
She alleged that BJP is trying to cause riots by spreading falsehoods in Bengal. “Please don’t believe in their false propaganda. They are killing Adivasis and Dalits but feed lies to Adivasis here. Stay alert and don’t listen to them. Our aim is to work for everybody. We do not differentiate on the basis of religion,” she said.
“Trinamool does not follow the culture that the BJP speaks of. We do not like that culture. We will fight politically. Let others speak ill, we will not,” she added.
On December 6, a labourer from Malda district identified as Afrazul Khan (50) was hacked to death with an axe before being set on fire alive by a civil contractor identified as Shambhu Lal in Rajasthan’s Rajsamand village.
Lal recorded the whole incident on camera. In the video released later, he was seen attacking Khan with an axe and the victim was heard screaming for mercy. After repeated attacks, Khan died after which Lal set the body on fire.
The incident drew severe criticism from Banerjee who demanded a high level probe in to the matter. She had also raised the matter before Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
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