The Bengal BJP chief stated Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is opposing the CAA to bolster her Muslim vote financial institution. “By doing so, she is provoking Muslims and dividing the state along sharp communal lines. Let me remind the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Mamata Banerjee that citizenship is in the Union List and the Parliament of Bharat has legislated on the CAA to make it an Act. Who is Mamata Banerjee to not allow the implementation of CAA in West Bengal?” Majumdar requested, including that Mamata’s feedback on the problem are an assault on the Constitution and sovereignty of “Bharat”.
On 13 March, two days after the Union authorities issued a notification for the CAA to come back into impact, Mamata had stated the CAA is linked with the National Register of Citizens and he or she would oppose the brand new laws. She added she received’t enable detention camps in West Bengal, like those in Assam.
On 7 March — simply earlier than the CAA got here into impact — BJP MLA Mukut Mani Adhikari, a Matua chief, joined the TMC, saying that the folks of his constituency “have been deprived” within the final 5 years. Hours after CAA was notified, there have been celebrations in numerous areas of the state which might be dominated by refugees, notably at Thakurnagar in North 24 Parganas district — an space dominated by the scheduled caste subsect Matuas, a gaggle that’s the deciding think about 8 of the state’s 42 parliamentary seats and whose citizenship standing has been a topic of controversy within the state.
While the BJP had promised citizenship to the Matuas beneath the CAA, Adhikari’s change to TMC has raised questions on which means the Matuas will vote.
However, Majumdar stated Adhikari’s change received’t harm the BJP.
“He is not that popular in the community. Also, the TMC thinks that CAA will only benefit the Matua community. They think by taking Adhikari, they can discredit the long-standing demand of all Hindu refugees who are staying in West Bengal. I am also a refugee, so are Namashudras, and many other communities,” Majumdar instructed ThePrint.
One factor the CAA can not do, Majumdar stated, is give hope to Bengali Hindus from West Bengal. And the occasions that unfolded in Sadeshkhali confirmed how weak the Bengali Hindu is beneath Mamata Banerjee’s rule, he added.
Also Read: How Modi govt’s transfer to inform CAA guidelines will politically influence West Bengal forward of Lok Sabha polls
Many Sandeshkhalis, many Shahjahans
Majumdar, who had been on the forefront of the Opposition protest towards the TMC authorities for shielding its native chief Sheikh Shahjahan after allegations of land seize and sexual exploitation of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe ladies got here to the fore, stated the problem is way from over although Shahjahan is now in CBI custody.
“I think Sandeshkhali will become the TMC’s graveyard. The events at Sandeshkhali were far more horrific than what happened at Nandigram. Nandigram was about land grabbing and the unwillingness of the people to give away their land to industry. Sandeshkhali is about sexual exploitation of Hindu women, mostly from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes, by Sheikh Shahjahan and his goons under the patronage of TMC and Mamata Banerjee,” Majumdar stated.
Majumdar alleged that even after the arrest of Sheikh Shahjahan, his brothers are threatening native ladies at Sandeshkhali. “I make regular visits to Sandeshkhali because we need to stand with the people who are vulnerable under TMC rule. This event has opened a Pandora’s Box in Bengal.”
There are “many Sheikh Shahjahans in Bengal who are politically aligned with the TMC”, he alleged.
“In North 24 Parganas, there is Sheikh Shahjahan, in South 24 Parganas you have a goon called Jahangir. A few days ago, a Hindu house was vandalised by TMC goons in North Bengal. These are Muslim goons who have been given patronage by the ruling TMC,” he stated.
The TMC has fielded Haji Nurul Islam from the Basirhat constituency which comes beneath the Sandeshkhali area for the Lok Sabha election.
Majumdar claimed Nurul Islam is the prime accused within the 2010 anti-Hindu Deganga riots.
“Haji Nurul Islam is not even a resident of Bashirhat. But he has been given a ticket to instil fear among local Hindus. This exposes the anti-Hindu mentality of Mamata Banerjee,” Majumdar stated.
Another bone of rivalry for the Bengal BJP is the candidacy of actress Saayoni Ghosh, who in February 2015, on the event of Maha Shivratri, had tweeted a cartoon of a girl placing a condom over a Shivling. The actress had apologised for the submit and stated her account was hacked however the controversy refuses to die down.
Ghosh will now contest the Lok Sabha election from Jadavpur. However, Majumdar stated Hindus haven’t forgiven her for the 2015 transgression.
“You cannot take Hindu tolerance for granted. It is time insults to our religion and sacred symbols stop. Bengal voters will punish the likes of Saayoni Ghosh and the party that supports her,” he added.
The ‘outsider versus insider’ debate
During the meeting elections in West Bengal in 2021, Mamata took on the BJP by calling it a celebration of “bohiragotos (outsiders)”. The TMC slogan for the polls was “Bangla nijer meyekei chay (Bengal wants its own daughter)”.
Majumdar stated the TMC has now fielded many candidates from exterior Bengal, whether or not these are cricketer Yusuf Pathan and Kirti Azad or actor Shatrughan Sinha.
“This is hypocrisy at its best. Just before announcing the party’s candidate list, TMC General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee launched an attack on the BJP saying it is full of bohiragoto). And then they fielded Azad, Sinha, and Pathan. Can these three speak Bengali? Are they Bengali? Gujarati Muslim Yusuf Pathan has been fielded for Muslim appeasement. How come a Yusuf Pathan is not a bohiragoto but our country’s prime minister is an outsider?” Majumdar requested.
On the query of outsiders, the BJP courted controversy when it fielded Bhojpuri singer-actor Pawan Singh from Asansol. Immediately after, Singh’s movie posters and lyrics of standard songs which had been notably derogatory in direction of Bengali ladies began getting shared on social media. Singh introduced he wouldn’t contest the polls.
Majumdar stated it was his private resolution.
“Legendary Bengali actor Utpal Dutt did many negative roles in films. In real life, he was an honourable man. The withdrawal of Pawan Singh’s candidature has nothing to do with the kind of films he did or songs he (has) sung. It was his personal decision, and the party has nothing to do with it,” he stated.
If Pawan Singh’s candidature grew to become a second of embarrassment for the BJP, Calcutta High Court choose Abhijit Ganguly opting to step down from his place and be a part of the BJP was alleged to be a shot within the arm for the get together. Ganguly has been a darling each for the native press and Opposition events in West Bengal for pulling the ruling TMC in court docket with strongly-worded statements on a number of instances of corruption.
Instead, the TMC and different events demanded that a few of his judgments needs to be revisited as Ganguly stated at a presser that the BJP had been in talks with him for some time.
Majumdar stated the BJP had no connections with Justice Ganguly till he resigned. He additionally claimed that Justice Ganguly’s judgments have anyway been challenged by the TMC within the Supreme Court.
“Justice Ganguly has been a ‘people’s judge’ and the TMC’s allegations are simply politics at its lowest. What kind of precedence do they want to set up? Let me remind them that Justice Noor Alam Chowdhury, after his retirement from Calcutta High Court, had joined the TMC. So, by TMC’s logic, all judgments delivered by Justice Chowdhury should be revisited? Mamata Banerjee should learn to respect our independent institutions, especially, the judiciary,” Majumdar stated.
Majumdar responded sharply to Mamata’s allegations that the Centre is obstructing funds to the state, saying she excels in making false allegations however doesn’t have knowledge to help her falsehoods.
“When Banerjee was a central minister under UPA-I, Bengal used to be allocated Rs 300-400 crores. Now, under the Modi government, the railway budget for Bengal is more than Rs 12,000 crores. This is a tactic she has picked from the Left. The Left Front used to propagate this falsehood that the central government never cares about Bengalis, and Delhi is responsible for Bengal remaining an underdeveloped state,” Majumdar stated.
The Bengal BJP chief stated the politics of the Left, and now, Mamata Banerjee, is to pit the Centre towards the state, folks towards folks, and one language towards one other. “The Left did what they could to damage national integration. Mamata is indulging in the same falsehood, and she is every issue a Delhi versus Kolkata one,” he stated.
Majumdar stated such ways received’t work with the voters anymore because the BJP is assured of getting at the least 35 of Bengal’s 42 Lok Sabha seats.
“Recently, both PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah gave us the target of 35 seats from Bengal. We are confident of making that happen. We have our eyes set on 35 seats,” he stated.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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