‘Insult of Hindus’: BJP slams Mamata Banerjee for August 5 lockdown

West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh slams Mamata Banerjee for lockdown on August 5.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has slammed the West Bengal government for its decision to announce complete lockdown on August 5, the day Ram mandir bhumi pujan is slated to take place.

Party’s Bengal unit president Dilip Ghosh said that August 5 is going to be a historic day but the Mamata Banerjee government has announced a complete lockdown on the said date across the state. He said that the decision is an insult of the sentiments of Hindus.

Ghosh said that the Trinamool Congress will have to face consequences if it does not withdraw its decision to clamp a lockdown on August 5, adding that the whole lockdown decision is arbitrary and only to punish Bengali Hindus.

“August 5 is going to be a historic day in Independent India. Announcing complete lockdown on that day amounts to insulting the sentiments of a large number of people. If the government doesn’t withdraw its decision, it will face consequences,” the Lok Sabha MP from Medinipur said.

“Announcing complete lockdown on that day amounts to insulting the sentiments of a large number of people. If the state government doesn’t withdraw its decision, it will face consequences,” he added.

Party’s national secretary Rahul Sinha accused the Trinamool Congress of appeasement politics.

“The government withdrew lockdown announcement on August 2 as there were Eid festivities the previous day. When it came to one of the biggest occasions of independent India, the bhumi pujan for Ram Mandir on August 5, the TMC government decided to impose a lockdown. This reflects its communal mindset,” he said.

The West Bengal government had initially listed nine days in August for a complete lockdown in the state. Later, it withdrew two days from the list as they coincided with religious occasions — August 1 (Eid) and August 29 (Muharram).

The fresh lockdown dates in West Bengal are — August 5, 8, 16, 17, 23, 24 and 31.