A day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of misleading the people of the State about the Citizen Amendment Act, Banerjee used the opportunity of an Eid gathering to reiterate her opposition to the CAA, NRC and the Uniform Civil Code in the State.
Addressing a massive Eid congregation on Red Road today, she said: “We will not accept the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, National Register of Citizens and Uniform Civil Code. We will not accept any forcible implementation of these. I do not know how to hate people. I do not deliver hate speeches. I want everybody to live like brothers, in peace and harmony. If we will live unitedly, nobody will be able to cause harm to us. Do not let anybody break this unity.”
She urged the people to be on guard against “some people who will try to engineer riots” during the elections and urged those present “not to fall prey to the plot”.
“As long as I am alive, nobody will be able to cause harm to you. I will keep fighting them. I have learnt from you people how not to fear death,” she added.
Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said: “Today, Mamata has again tried to fool one section of society for cheap electoral gains. Either she does not understand or she is trying to mislead our Muslim brothers about CAA. The CAA is not about the Muslims. It is about giving citizenship to persecuted Hindus, Christians, Sikhs and Jains from neighbouring countries.”
The Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari said: “This is nothing but the cheap vote bank politics that Mamata is famous for. In the past, she has referred to the Muslims as her ‘milch cow’.
Now she is praying that the Muslims will again vote en bloc for her. But she is in for a big shock on June 4. The Muslims have realised how she has been fooling them all this while. They want Modi ji’s development model, because they have seen how Muslims in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh have benefitted under the BJP and how Muslims have been exploited by Mamata in Bengal.”
During her speech, in an apparent reference to the BJP, Mamata Banerjee said: “There will be people who will be trying to engineer riots in the name of religion. You keep your cool and we will not let them succeed in starting riots here.”
Banerjee alleged that with the elections closing in, the Central Government agencies are being “used to scare the people, mainly the Opposition leaders”.
“A few people want to scare people in the name of agencies during elections. Set the CBI, ED, Income Tax, and NIA after them. I will tell them to construct a jail and put everyone behind the bars. But will you be able to put the entire population of 130 crores in jail? I am ready to give blood for the country, but not ready to allow this torture go on,” she said.
Banerjee also alleged that during the election season, “a few Muslim leaders get calls with offers.”
“Today, during this election time, you are selecting and calling chosen Muslim people asking them what they want… I tell you they do not want anything.” she said, without taking names.
She said that people in West Bengal, people lived in peace “because there is brotherhood among different communities”. “Remember, your honesty has helped people in Bengal to stay in peace. Live in peace and it is our responsibility to look after your security and nobody will be able to torture you,” she said.
She asserted that her Trinamool Congress party’s fight was against the BJP. She told the crowd: “We are in West Bengal with your blessings. Remember it is the Trinamool Congress which is fighting against the BJP. We will decide about the I.N.D.I.A. bloc later. But in Bengal, please see that no vote goes to any other party,” she exhorted the crowd.