Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday slammed the BJP for trying to defame Bengal by feeding fake stories to the media. Claiming that stones were pelted at the Vande Bharat Express not in Bengal but in Bihar, Banerjee said that the people of Bihar must have been unhappy over some decision of the Centre and hence they had resorted to stone-pelting.
“Some people are feeding false stories to the media in order to defame Bengal saying stones were pelted at the Vande Bharat Express … now it has been revealed that the stones were actually pelted by some people in Bihar because they might have been upset with the Centre … and a section of the media is trying to defame my Government and State to please the BJP … this will not be tolerated … we will bring action against them,” the Chief Minister said.Two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the Vande Bharat Express the Central Government’s flagship semi high speed train was pelted with stones on two successive days.
While the first incident took place at Kumarganj in Malda district the second one reportedly happened allegedly between Kishanganj in Bihar and New Jalpaiguri in Bengal triggering political mudslinging. The BJP blamed the TMC for instigating the stone pelters as it was not happy with the saffron workers shouting Jai Shri Ram slogan in presence of Mamata Banerjee during the train’s inauguration at Howrah Station on December 30. However the TMC refuted the charges saying it was the BJP’s handiwork to blame TMC and defame Bengal.
Banerjee’s diatribes came after reports emanating from the neighbouring State that Bihar Police had arrested some suspected persons for pelting stones at the premium train, the seventh in its series.
In two day’s successive stone pelting incidents on January 2 and 3 the door and window panes of the C- 13 and C-3 and C-6 coaches of the Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express were damaged.
Banerjee who was presently visiting Ganga Sagar to inspect the administrative preparations to handle the crowd of pilgrims that could cross 30 lakh this year earlier blamed the Centre for not spending a paisa for the development of the Ganga Sagar Fare.
“As there is no Kumbh Mela this year the entire crowd is likely to come here and it may go beyond 30 lakh … we are trying our best to develop the infrastructural amenities here and expect the Centre which has not even given Batasha (sweets) worth a paisa for Ganga Sagar to accord it a status of National Fare because after Kumbha Mela this is the biggest such religious congregation in the country that requires traveling beyond massive rivers …
We want the Centre to construct a bridge over Muri Ganga that may cost Rs 100 crore to link the Ganga Sagar Islands to the mainland,” Banerjee said.