West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday called the Delhi violence \u201ca planned genocide\u201d that was later given the name of \u201criots\u201d. Over 40 persons have died in the violence that continued for four days from last Sunday, and over 200 persons were left injured.<\/p>\n
At a meeting in Kolkata’s Netaji Indoor stadium with Trinamool Congress councillors and senior leaders of her party ahead of the municipal polls, Banerjee said that she was condemning the violence in Delhi and her heart was bleeding at the loss of lives. She and her party workers maintained silence for a minute in respect of the deceased. She also announced her decision to raise funds from among party workers for those affected in the Delhi violence.<\/p>\n
Banerjee said that it is \u201cgenocide\u201d because it is \u201cstate sponsored\u201d. \u201cThey have taken the Gujarat model to Delhi,\u201d she said, referring to the Gujarat riots of 2002 without mentioning it. \u201cYou have seen what happened in Uttar Pradesh \u2013 over 20 people have died while protesting the Citizenship Amendment Act. If they get away with this sort of killing where they are ruling, they will follow this everywhere in the country, so be warned,\u201d Banerjee said.<\/p>\n
Significantly, Banerjee\u2019s comments come a day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah\u2019s rally in Kolkata in which he had said that Banerjee was responsible for \u201ctriggering riots\u201d and \u201cburning trains in a bid to oppose the CAA. Amit Shah had said this the Kolkata prior to which some Bharatiya Janata Party supporters were spotted raising \u201cgoli maaro<\/em>\u201d (shoot them) slogans. Banerjee today criticised the comments and said action will be taken in such cases \u201cas this is not Delhi\u201d. Three persons have already been arrested in this connection.<\/p>\n She said that many people had told her that the Delhi violence was a planned killing that had been given the name of riots. \u201cFour more bodies have been found,\u201d she said, adding that \u201cmore bodies are being found every day\u201d. \u201cHow can such violence take place and the BJP not even say sorry? How is it possible?\u201d she asked, adding, \u201cI am hearing 700 people are missing in Delhi.\u201d She said that 300-400 people have already died protesting the CAA in the country.<\/p>\n She said that the BJP winning a state government meant torture for people and riots, which was evident in Delhi, Assam, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh among others. She also demanded an independent inquiry into the UP violence by a Supreme Court judge.<\/p>\n Banerjee referred to Shah\u2019s rally yesterday and without naming him said: \u201cInstead of apologising for the Delhi violence, it was shamelessly said yesterday that they would rule Bengal.\u201d Shah had, significantly, avoided mentioning the Delhi violence at the rally yesterday and mentioned that the dreams of \u201cSonar Bangla\u201d could be achieved if BJP comes to power. He also appealed to the refugees to not get “confused” by what the Opposition parties in the country were saying on CAA.<\/p>\n Banerjee today added that refugees in Bengal were being targeted and insulted by the Union Home Minister. \u201cAll the refugees are already citizens. Why are you taking away their rights?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n BJP is trying to take the country towards Presidential rule and then towards autocracy and in order to fight them, sharp focus and fearlessness is required, she said while giving her party workers some pep talk and asking them to be more enthusiastic in fighting the BJP in the days ahead. \u201cLet 2021 Assembly elections in Bengal prepare to oust the BJP from the country,\u201d Banerjee told her party leaders.<\/p>\n The Trinamool Congress chief also targeted the Congress and CPIM and said that they had helped the BJP win so many seats in the Lok Sabha polls from Bengal. \u201cI told them [the Congress and the CPI-M] let us build up protest together. But they didn’t like it, they are not ready for it, because they want to keep the BJP in good humour,\u201d she said. Banerjee said that CPIM and the Congress were both national parties, but \u201cwhere are the protest rallies and meetings against the Delhi violence? Why are they not saying anything?\u201d She announced a series of programmes to be taken up by her party to protest the Delhi violence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" She asked why the BJP has not apologised for the Delhi violence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":279,"featured_media":8720,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[99,57,69,47,84,325,49,46,88,87],"adace-sponsor":[],"class_list":["post-8718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nation","tag-amit-shah","tag-bjp","tag-caa","tag-congress","tag-cpim","tag-delhi-violence","tag-mamata-banerjee","tag-trinamool-congress","tag-uttar-pradesh","tag-yogi-adityanath"],"yoast_head":"\n