Kolkata: A day after Election Commission of India (ECI) had suspended 4 West Bengal government officers over fictitious voters in electoral roll, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee taking part in ‘Bhasha Andolan’ in Jhargram slams ECI stating that the poll panel started playing polls much ahead of the Assembly election.
“Government workers are being intimidated. Two officers were served suspension notices yesterday. Have the elections even been announced yet? Which law allows them to be suspended at this stage? It is our responsibility to protect you all. We will do that. I will not suspend anyone. The ECI is working like the bonded workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Amit Shah thinks whatever he thinks is correct he will do,” said Mamata.
Slamming the central government over SIR, Mamata said that through SIR, BJP is allegedly trying to implement NRC.
“People are committing suicide out of fear of NRC. Who will take responsibility for this? Tribals, minorities, and Tapashilis are facing persecution across the country. If they try to snatch away the rights of the people, they'll have to go over our bodies. We will not give up an inch of land without a fight. How dare they serve NRC notices to people here? Do not respond to those notices. Live here in Bengal peacefully,” further added the West Bengal Chief Minister.
Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs demanded the arrest of BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya for saying ‘Bengali is not a language’.
Talking to the media, TMC MP and newly appointed party’s chief whip in Lok Sabha, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said that Malviya’s comment on Bengali language is ‘anti-national’.
“Our national anthem is written in Bengali and by Bengali Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. If Amit Malviya thinks that there is no language called Bengali then he is against the national anthem. He should be immediately arrested for behaving like an anti-national,” added Kakoli.
BJP state president and Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya said that TMC is trying to create a narrative to hide their ‘failure’ ahead of the elections.
