‘If Bengal burns…’: BJP sees red over Mamata ‘warning’; Himanta retorts
Bengal CM also remarks that her previous slogan of “badla noy, badal chai” (no revenge, only change) needs to be updated to reflect changing times and situations
A day after widespread clashes in Kolkata and Howrah between police and protesters who threatened to march to state secretariat Nabanna, and on a day the BJP called a 12-hour bandh in the state, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee issued a veiled warning to the BJP’s central leadership on Wednesday (August 28).
“PM Modi, you are trying to create unrest in Bengal through your people. But remember, if you set fire to Bengal, Assam, the North-East, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Delhi will not stop either. We’ll shake your chair,” she said at the foundation day event of the TMC’s student wing Trinamool Chhatra Parishad.
BJP sees red
Bengal BJP President Sukanta Majumdar termed it an “anti-national statement” and wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, urging him to initiate appropriate action to uphold the rule of law and maintain public order. “This isn’t the voice of someone holding a constitutional position. It’s the voice of an anti-national,” Majumdar stated in his letter, asserting that Banerjee “no longer deserves to hold such an important position” and calling for her immediate resignation.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, too, hit back at Mamata. “Didi, how dare you threaten Assam? Don’t show us your red eyes. Don’t even try to set India on fire with the politics of your failures. It doesn’t suit you to use divisive language,” the BJP leader said.
Bangladesh is a different country: Mamata
Speaking at the event, Mamata also spoke on the parallels being drawn by many between the protests in Bengal over the rape and murder of a young trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital and the students’ protests in Bangladesh that forced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to flee the country.
“Some people think this (agitation) is similar to the protests in Bangladesh. I love Bangladesh, they speak like us (Bengal). Our culture is also the same. However, Bangladesh is a different country,” Mamata said. The TMC government has been facing severe flak and massive protests over its handling of the rape and murder on August 9.
Two days of chaos
While protests have been ongoing in the city — by junior doctors and the common people in general — an unregistered students’ organisation called Chhatra Samaj called a “Nabanna Abhijan” protest on Tuesday with the aim of marching to the secretariat and seeking Mamata’s resignation. Thousands of protesters clashed with police on Howrah Bridge, Strand Road, Foreshore Road, near Eden Gardens and Fort William, in Santragachi and Howrah Maidan through the day, hurling bricks and stones at them, attacking police cars and setting a police bike and kiosk on fire. In retaliation, police chased them away with batons, water cannons, and tear gas. The BJP led a protest march to Kolkata Police’s headquarters at Lalbazar.
On Wednesday, too, during the 12-hour Bengal bandh called by the BJP, party workers clashed with TMC supporters and police in several parts of Bengal. Several BJP leaders, including former MPs Roopa Ganguly and Locket Chatterjee, Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya and MLA Agnimitra Paul, were detained for blocking roads since the morning.
BJP leaders detained
Ganguly and Paul were detained from south Kolkata’s Gariahat area when they were urging traders to down their shutters and requesting people to support the bandh. Chatterjee was detained from Shyambazar when she was leading a demonstration, while Bhattacharya was detained from Wipro More in Salt Lake Sector 5.
Kolkata’s Ward 50 councillor Sajal Ghosh was detained from his residence in Sealdah shortly after BJP workers scuffled with TMC supporters while trying to enforce the bandh in the nearby Koley Market. His wife Tania Ghosh then took out a rally, alleging that police held him without any warrant. Later, DC (Central) Indira Mukherjee said Ghosh was arrested for making provocative comments.
Veiled warning?
At the TMCP event, Mamata remarked that her previous slogan of “badla noy, badal chai” (no revenge, only change) needed to be updated to reflect the changing times and situations. “The time has come to resist and protest when you are insulted. When faced with ugly attacks, do not take it lying down. How you respond is up to you. But do hiss at the perpetrators,” she said.
Majumdar condemned her remarks as “unprecedented” and “threatening” in the letter to Shah. “It is unthinkable and unprecedented for a chief minister, who is constitutionally bound to rise above partisan attitudes, to make such intimidating statements that pose a threat to democracy,” Majumdar told reporters.
Majumdar argued that Mamata’s comment could incite TMC supporters to take the law into their hands and attack Opposition members, thereby stifling democratic dissent. Hoping that Mamata was not alluding to any extremist groups with her remarks, he condemned her comment as a “blatant endorsement of revenge politics from the highest office in the state”.
(With agency inputs)
