A day after Trinamool Congress MP Sudip Bandopadhyay complained of receiving death threat, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday launched indirect attacks on the saffron brigade linking”offensive SMS” to “politics of intolerance and vendetta.”
Banerjee reportedly told her close associates that Bandopadhyay got threats because he was getting vocal in lok Sabha against the “intolerance” issue.
Banerjee, who was in beach town of Digha, said, “Sudip da has received death threat over e-mail because he is increasingly getting vocal against politics of intolerance in the lok Sabha.” The Trinamool supremo said the sender of the SMS had threatened to kill Bandopadhyay and dispose of his body in Kolkata.
“If this is not intolerance against someone getting expressing his views then what isIJ” she wondered even as sources close to her quoted the Chief Minister of having instructed the MP to lodge an FIR both in Delhi and Kolkata.
“She has said that there will be a thorough probe into the incident. She has also asked our party leaders to raise the issue vociferously in Parliament” a senior party leader said. The Trinamool was likely to take up the issue with Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
“This is a clear case of political vendetta. But the question is whether dissenting voices can be gagged in democracy. Why do these people talk of democracy when they cannot respect itIJ If they do not want freedom of speech then they should declare Emergency in the country,” Banerjee said adding she had asked Bandopadhyay to lodge an FIR in Delhi and raise the issue in Parliament.
As Bandopadhyay raised the issue in Parliament on Tuesday, the government assured him that “every possible step” will be taken to ensure the safety of members of the House.
“I received a message at 1:25 PM from an unknown number yesterday. It said that I will be killed and my body will taken to Kalighat in Kolkata. The nature of the language was also derogatory. I responded to the message and I again received two messages at 2:15 PM and 2:24 PM today. I raised this issue with our Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee following which she addressed a press conference. She has also advised me to put this on the record of the House,” Bandopadhyay said.
He said while he was seriously ill some eight months back, there were cases of robbery at his house, following which he had shifted residence. While he was speaking, his party colleagues demanded the presence of Home Minister Rajnath Singh in the House. “He is the leader of the party (TMC) and this is a serious matter,” they said.
In response, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Pratap Rudy said the Home Minister was away at the site in South West Delhi where a BSF plane crashed this morning. “I assure that the government will take every possible step for the safety of members and views this matter seriously,” Rudy said.