Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday came down heavily on the BJP-led Gujarat Government for not doing enough to instil confidence among the migrant workers from north Indian States of UP and Bihar who have been fleeing in hordes following attacks on them.
“I don’t know why the people from North India are being attacked like this in Gujarat. The trend is dangerous. It is the failure of the BJP Government. In fact, the situation in all the States ruled by the BJP is horrible. They should take care of it immediately before the situation goes out of control,” a worried Chief Minister said.
“Why all people from other States will be held responsible and attacked for wrongs committed by any person?” Banerjee said even as she hopped from one Durga puja pandal to other inaugurating the themes of respective pujas.
She wondered as to “why the BJP is trying to create confusion and division among the people in all the States including Gujarat. It is for them to answer to the people why the situation is becoming bad in Gujarat. Such a situation cannot be allowed to continue for a long period of time.”
In one puja pandal in south Kolkata, the Chief Minister reiterated, “religion and faith is personal but festival belongs to all. This feeling is preserved as a heritage in Bengal. The people should be encouraged to follow a tolerant path.”
The Chief Minister said the political parties (read the BJP) that engineer division and fan hatred would one day fall prey to the same hatred and would be obliterated from the scene.
Meanwhile, asked to comment on the BJP’s proposed rath yatras in Bengal that would begin in the month of December to converge in Kolkata, senior Bengal Minister Partho Chatterjee said, “Bengal is not a land of yatra politics. Such tricks were tried in the 1990s too but failed to yield any result. This time also these so-called yatras will fail to produce political results for the BJP.”