Even as Mamata Banerjee continued to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi for importing corona in Bengal in his bid to win elections, the BJP on Friday released an audio-tape showing a conversation between the State Chief Minister and Cooch Behar district Trinamool Congress president Pratha Pratim Roy where she was allegedly instructing him to make preparations for taking out a rally with the corpse of people killed in Sitalkuchi police firing last Saturday.
This, BJP leadership claimed was planned by the Chief Minister to stoke communal riots in order to polarise the Muslim voters. A timely banning of politicians — including the Chief Minister — by the Election Commission of India from entering Cooch Behar till last Tuesday however till foiled her “criminal designs to fan riots in order to win elections.” BJP leader Amit Malavya said.
Four persons were killed when the CPF opened fired after an alleged crowd of 300-350 men tried to attack the booth number 126 during the fourth phase of polling.
In the purported audio-tape featuring Banerjee and Roy who is also the TMC candidate from Sitalkuchi the Chief Minister also directed him to make arrangements for lodging an FIR against those who opened fire and implicating in that document the district SP and the local Circle Inspector, the BJP leader said adding Roy was asked get the FIR drawn by professional so as to frame not only the central forces but also the district SP and the local circle inspector.
At a time when she should have stood with the law-enforcing agencies the Chief Minister was seen standing by the law-breakers, Malavya said. “Imagine had this rally been allowed to take place what would have been the situation of Bengal what kind of communal disturbance it would have ignited,” he said.
“This betrays the criminal mindset of the Chief Minister who has no problem with playing politics with the death of people … she was trying to reap political dividends with dead bodies,” Malavya said adding how Banerjee had been trying to instigate people saying the BJP would invoke National Population Register to victimize its opponents in the name of pushing out alleged infiltrators.
“There is no plans of brining NPR now and neither there is any proposal of raising detention camps,” Malavya said claiming how the Chief Minister has been spreading false stories in the election rallies to create a mass panic and reap political dividends. “This she is doing as a last resort because she knows that she is going out of power.”
Elsewhere, Banerjee blamed the Prime Minister for “importing corona virus in Bengal” by brining outsiders in the State. “We had controlledthe corona pandemic in Bengal but it is Narendra Modi who isresponsible for creating the second wave of the pandemic,” Banerjeetold a rally at Noapara adding “we had repeatedly protested againstbringing in outsiders for elections in Bengal but the BJP would never listen to that and they continued to bring people in thousands” from corona-affected states.