MAMATA BANERJEE SYNONYMOUS WITH INTOLERANCE, SAYS NADDA

KOLKATA: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president J.P. Nadda on Wednesday hit out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, terming her of being synonymous to ‘intolerance’.

“Intolerance is increasing in Bengal. For West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee… the name is intolerance,” said the BJP chief at a rally in Kolkata. He said that the BJP will come to power with more than 200 seats and will form the next government in Bengal.

Attacking the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress for encouraging dynasty politics, Nadda said that Trinamool Congress has become a family party.

“But for the BJP, the party is a family. It’s our ideology that the party office is where the family works and it’s not a leader’s house,” he said. He also blamed the state government for its minority appeasement.

“She allows Eid. The lockdown was withdrawn for Bakra-Eid on July 31. This shows that the state government’s policies are driven by appeasement theories. We are for Eid celebrations and we have no problem with that. But why did she impose lockdown on Ram Mandir foundation day,” Nadda asked.

The BJP chief inaugurated nine BJP party offices and also participated in a community outreach programme on BJP’s mission of ‘Ar Noi Anyay’ (no more atrocities) in Mamata Banerjee’s assembly constituency Bhabanipur.

Nadda said that Bengal has the highest numbers for female domestic crime, human trafficking and rape. “Mamata di has stopped reporting the numbers to the crime bureau. She has also refused to give the Covid numbers. Her government, for political gains, has kept people from joining mainstream affairs,” he said.

During his two-day tour of Bengal, Nadda will take part in various programmes targeted at strengthening the party base and the booth level organisations. The programmes will be organised as part of a public outreach drive the party has planned in the run up to the crucial state Assembly elections in 2021.

Sources said that the BJP national President will also pray at the famous Kalighat temple and will interact with the members of the slum community. He will chair a closed-door meeting of state BJP leaders which will also be attended by BJP national General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and national vice president Mukul Roy.

On Thursday, Nadda is scheduled to address a meeting of BJP party cadres in the South 24 Paragana district, which happens to be Mamata’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee’s Lok Sabha constituency. He will also offer prayers at the Ramakrishna Ashram and will have lunch there as well, party sources said.