West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday called the Bharatiya Janata Party a “militant organisation” that divides people along religious lines, reported PTI.
“We are not a militant organisation like the BJP,” Banerjee said at an extended core committee meeting of the Trinamool Congress. “They are arrogant and intolerant. They are religiously biased. They don’t like Muslims, Christians, Sikhs – they are even differentiating between the upper caste and the lower caste Hindus.”
The Trinamool Congress chief also dared the BJP to attack her party members. “They are threatening to carry out encounters,” said Banerjee, referring to BJP state unit president Dilip Ghosh’s speech in Jalpaiguri on Tuesday. “Just because they are in power in Delhi, they are talking about hurling bombs. I dare them to come and touch us. We will show them their place.” Several workers of the BJP and the Trinamool Congress have died in the state in the past few weeks, with the violence escalating in the run-up to panchayat elections in mid-May.
The chief minister also accused the BJP of manipulating electronic voting machines to increase its vote share in the state. This is the first time in many years that the BJP has been elected to gram panchayats in every district of the state. The BJP’s vote share also rose during the Maheshtala Assembly bye-polls in May.
“It is the BJP’s habit to tamper EVMs,” alleged Banerjee. “Our party workers must be alert and monitor them.”Referring to the May Assembly bye-poll at Maheshtala, Banerjee said 30% EVMs did not work properly. “This government [at the Centre] manipulates EVM machine. Every machine will have to be monitored.”
Banerjee took on the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Congress too, suggesting a nexus between the parties and Maoists. “The CPM is falling at the feet of the BJP and clutching at their straws to stay afloat,” she said, according to NDTV. “...[The] Congress is opposing BJP in Delhi and holding hands here. Where are the rules, the principles of the Congress? CPM, Congress, Maoists and BJP... they are the darkest underbelly of society. Four heads have come together. They are looting money, stealing it, and lighting fires”.
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