West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday accused the BJP of misleading people in the name of religion before elections and said nobody needs a lesson on Hinduism from the saffron outfit.
Taking a swipe at the BJP for trying to consolidate the Hindi-speaking vote bank in the state, Banerjee said the ruling party at the Centre had done nothing for them except making fake pre-electoral promises.
"They (BJP) only talk about religion when election comes. Those who celebrate Diwali, tell me, did BJP start the Diwali or are we celebrating it for many years? These festivals are thousands of years old. BJP is misleading people in the name of religion," Banerjee said at the inauguration of a Jagadhatri Puja here.
"We also celebrate all the Hindu festivals. We did not learn to celebrate them from the BJP, The BJP tries to divide people and when the election comes they ask the Hindi speaking people to vote for them. But what have they done for them?" she asked the people of central Kolkata's Posta area, a predominantly Hindi-speaking belt.
Referring to the National Register of Citizens in Assam, the Trinamool supremo claimed the BJP was trying to drive away Bengalis from Assam while doing the same with the people of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in Gujarat.
"I want to ask the BJP why did they drive away the people of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar from Gujarat? At this rate, they would drive people away the people of other states even from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan or Delhi one day."
--IANS
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