Continuing her tirade against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday targeted Home Minister Amit Shah for converting the much bandied catchphrase of the BJP — “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas (development for all together with all)” into “Sabka Saath Sabka Sarvnas (debacle for all together with all).”
Even as she walked at a huge rally for third consecutive day, Mamata trained her guns at Shah saying the Home Minister is only good at setting the country on fire. “Your only job is to set the country afire,” Mamata said warning “it is easy to ignite fire but very difficult to douse it.”
“The job of the Home Minister is to douse fire and not ignite it because it is very easy to set fire but very difficult to control it. Don’t play with fire,” the CM said.
Reminding him that “you are the Home Minister of the country and not just a BJP cadre,” Mamata said “please take measures to ensure peace in the country and withdraw the CAA and National Register for Citizens,” and warned “if you go ahead with your designs then I will see how you implement the law here in Bengal.”
She said the country was tense during the demolition of Babri mosque but “even then things had not come to such a pass.”
There was “tension when Babri Masjid was demolished but things cooled down after that and we were living peacefully. But after you (Shah) came look what you have done. You have set the country burning. Look how Kashmir is burning, Assam is burning, Tripura is burning. It is fire throughout India … the job of the Home Minister is to douse fire and not ignite it because it is very easy to set fire but very difficult to control it. Don’t play with fire.”
Slamming the BJP Government for hiding the real import of CAA and NRCfrom the people, Banerjee said “They are lying when they tell you thatCAA is will help you get your citizenship and that it will not nullifyyour right to citizenship,” adding “It is in fact a device to snatchcitizenship from many of you. CAA and NRC are the two sides of thesame coin.”
Warning the Centre that they should not underestimate the power ofcommon man she said “if you think that you are rocks then rememberthat we are mice and will bite you into bits,” the Chief Ministersaid.
Questioning the basis and veracity of the Home Minister’s statementthat Aadhar and Voter ID cards were not the proof of citizenship shesaid “if Aadhar is not the proof of citizenship then why did you askus to link Aadhar and banking schemes,” and reminded the people thatthe aim of the present dispensation in Delhi was to turn the entirecountry into a detention centre. “You may try to make India into adetention centre but we will not let you do so,” she said.
Meanwhile, even as Bengal started limping back to normalcy with somestray incidents of road blockades trickling in from districts like Birbhum and South 24 Parganas, two BJP MPs were on Wednesday arrestedby the police even as they tried to proceed towards Bhaluka RoadRailway station in Malda where the station premises were vandalized by miscreants protesting against CAA.
Coochbehar MP Nisith Pramanik and Malda North MP Khagen Murmu wasarrested when they tried to proceed to Bhaluka, BJP leaders said.
After his arrest Pramanik said “those who vandalized the stationpremises were not arrested but as MPs when we went to inspect thelosses caused in the attack we were arrested. This is a clearindication of Mamata Banerjee’ giving full support to the hoodlums and infiltrators.”