Kolkata: A war of words emerged between West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
on Monday. Banerjee accused the Centre of "misusing" the Indian Army to dismantle a stage erected to protest alleged atrocities on Bengali-speaking migrant workers in BJP-ruled states. BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya said it was Banerjee's "frustration" that made her take on the defence forces. The Indian Army partially dismantled the TMC's stage erected beside the Gandhi statue in the Maidan area in central Kolkata, as the party had overshot the programme's permission tenure. The TMC was holding sit-ins at the site on Saturdays and Sundays for nearly the past one month. As the TMC stage was partially dismantled, Mamata Banerjee rushed to the spot. "I do not blame the Army. This is the BJP's vendetta politics. The double-engine government of the BJP is to be blamed. They are misusing the Army. This is unethical, undemocratic, and it's a shame that the BJP has stooped to such levels," Banerjee told reporters.
"The BJP wants to misuse the Army for their own purposes. This is a sad message. They do not care about the country's internal issues or its border security. They only care about fighting the Trinamool Congress in Bengal. But the more they do this, the worse the result will be for them," Banerjee claimed.
The Army should have consulted the Kolkata Police before dismantling the stage, the CM said. "They could have called me, and I would have removed the stage within minutes. They could have contacted the state police or the Kolkata CP, since this was about law and order, and that is a state subject. They could have also spoken to our sports minister Aroop Biswas like they did during the Durand Cup," she said, alleging that the police were deliberately insulted by this act on Police Day.
"It is not the Army's job to dismantle stages; it's the job of the police. They cannot intervene in political matters without the local police. Who are they to remove our flags and banners? The BJP gave them direction. The Army is not guilty, the BJP is. We have the acumen to understand that they did it upon instructions of the Union defence minister. I am blaming the BJP and the defence minister," Banerjee stated.
She claimed that her party paid Rs 20,000 to the defence establishment as a security deposit for the permission, adding that there was no programme of any other party at the site. "I only appeal to the Army to remain neutral and not play in the hands of the BJP and not be involved in a dirty political game because everybody loves them," the CM said. She alleged that about "200 army personnel ran from the site" once they saw her arriving. "Why are you running, I asked, you are my friends? This is not your fault," Banerjee stated.
"I do not need Modi Babu's permission for conducting a programme, I take sanction from the people. I will not blame the Army, because they work for the nation. Does the PM take permission from us when he comes here? We allow it because that is political courtesy," she said.
The Trinamool Congress chief directed party leaders, including ministers Firhad Hakim and Aroop Biswas who accompanied her to the spot, to remove the protest site to the Esplanade crossing, a few hundred metres away, from Tuesday onwards. "From tomorrow, the dharna against linguistic terror will happen daily. Make the stage where it is under the KMC," she told the ministers.
Banerjee announced that protest rallies will happen on Tuesday in all blocks, wards, and districts "because of what the BJP did today".
"Permission for conduct of events was provided for two days. However, the stage has been put up for almost a month. Several reminders have been sent to the organisers for the removal of the temporary structure. However, it was not removed," a defence official was quoted as saying by PTI.
BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya said it was Banerjee's "frustration" that made her take on the defence forces. "Such things happen when you remain sleepless for nights in fear of losing power that's imminent. She has enjoyed unbridled power for long, and when the threat of her ouster is clear and present, she takes her frustrations out on the Army and levels wild allegations against the BJP," he said.
(With PTI inputs)
