Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said she was in favour of protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), but her party, Trinamool Congress, will not support bandh.
The Left parties had on December 26 last year called for a nationwide strike on January 8 and a seven-day protest from January 1 against the CAA, National Population Register (NPR) and National Register of Citizens (NRC).
The State Government issued circulars warning the Government staff against joining the strike — saying absence from work could lead to the deduction of a day’s salary (causing breakage in servicecareer) — the TMC brass wondered in private whether the party should descend on the streets as it did every time to thwart a bandh at the risk of earning the wrath of the Muslim voters.
The Chief Minister earlier said, “I support the cause of the bandh but I am not for this bandh culture itself. So I will not allow any strike to take place in Bengal,” Banerjee said though the critics said the Chief Minister’s voice did not sound confident enough while issuing the Government fatwa so to say.
“The bandh is definitely taking place and I don’t think the Chief Minister will be so imprudent to oppose it at the cost of exposing herself as a true friend of the BJP and Narendra Modi,” CPI(M) Legislature Party leader Sujan Chakrabarty said adding, “she had issued a circular but that will not be taken seriously because despite the public posturing against CAA-NRC her concern is not genuine, thanks to the hidden relationship she has with the BJP… scam-tainted TMC is afraid of the BJP Government because its neck is in the hands of the Central Government which is with using Sharada and Narada and other scams against it.”
Even the TMC leaders were not forthcoming on the issue of directly opposing the bandh.
A senior TMC leader and an MLA said “I don’t see any reason to descend on the streets to confront the pro-bandh people. The Government has already made public its decision.”
Meanwhile, State BJP president Dilip Ghosh accused the Chief Minister for allowing the bandh to become a success in Bengal in order to “provide some oxygen to a moribund CPI(M) in order to divide the anti-TMC votes.”