Kolkata: Bengal BJP lashed out at chief minister Mamata Banerjee over her comment that the saffron party was “planning to fuel riots” amid Ram Navami celebrations on Wednesday and the ongoing Ramzan rituals. State BJP president Dilip Ghosh dubbed the CM’s word of caution “a divisive ploy”, and said she and her colleagues were trying to “incite minorities”.
“The Bengal CM’s state of mind is like that of a farmer who has lost her cow. She is out of her wits... She is making comments to incite the minorities,” Ghosh said in response to Banerjee’s “word of caution” on Tuesday at an election gathering in Murshidabad’s Jiagunj that has a mixed population.
BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya said Banerjee’s remarks were “unbecoming” of a CM. “Our fiercest critiques — namely Congress leader Digvijaya Singh and Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav — have criticized us on many counts. But, even they have never brought this charge against us; that too on the occasion of Ram Navami. Mamata Banerjee’s comment is unbecoming of a CM,” Bhattacharya said.
Meanwhile, BJP’s national president J P Nadda chaired a meeting with party seniors in Kolkata on Tuesday to give a push to digital dissemination of information and micro-messaging when mega gatherings had been restricted amid the second Covid wave. Nadda held the meeting to increase public outreach of PM Narendra Modi’s rallies in Malda, Murshidabad, Birbhum and south Kolkata on April 23.
BJP leaders have decided to keep the physical presence of participants at 500 and use the digital platform to reach out to a larger audience. “There is huge enthusiasm in Malda over the PM’s rally. Since we have been asked to keep the gathering at 500 and enforce physical distancing, we are putting up giant screens in different parts of the district so that people can watch live the gathering. This is not for the PM alone. We will follow the procedure for all rallies,” BJP state secretary Sayantan Basu said.