Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday launched a fresh attack on the BJP for manipulating decisions of the defence administration.
This, after Army personnel dismantled a stage erected near the Gandhi Statue at Mayor Road near the Maidan-Esplanade area by the TMC members to stage a ceaseless sit-in demonstration against alleged harassment of Bengali migrant workers in the BJP-ruled States.
The Indian Army is the custodian of the Maidan area adjacent to Fort Williams, the headquarters of the Eastern Command. All the political rallies etc take place in the area after formal permissions are obtained from the Army authorities.
While the Army officials removed the stage citing reasons that the permission to erect the platform lasted till August 31, the Chief Minister said that “They (the Army) should have consulted the Kolkata Police Commissioner, who in turn would have told us and we would have removed the stage.”
Banerjee said that she personally went to the area and after seeing her, the Army personnel “ran away.” She also said how she tried to converse with them saying “You all are our friends and we are proud of you, but why are you running away.”
The Army sources, however, said that a reminder had already been sent to the Kolkata Police asking it to remove the temporary structure.
The Chief Minister said that she did not want to blame the Army for this. “We are proud of the Army people; they are our protectors. It is the forces (read BJP) that are doing dirty politics from behind who are responsible for this. They do not want us to tell the people how Bengali migrant workers are being harassed in BJP-ruled States. This is unethical,” the Chief Minister said.