West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Tuesday, alleged that attempts were being made to defame and tarnish the image of West Bengal.
Critical of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the central government, she claimed “a plot was underway to turn the State into Gujarat.”
“I respect the Governor but every post has its constitutional limit. Bengal is being defamed. If you want to save Bengal and its culture, come together. There is a conspiracy to forget the rich legacy of Bengal. A plan is being hatched to turn Bengal into Gujarat,” she said at an event in the city where she unveiled a statue of social-reformer Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. Her gibe at targeting West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi came after the latter met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi.
Tripathi met them on Monday, a day after the Centre issued an advisory to the West Bengal government expressing “deep concern” over the deaths of people in post-poll violence. The BJP won 18 of the 42 seats in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, and emerged as the principal opposition to Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress. Banerjee has since then upped the ante in attacking the BJP and the Centre.
Inaugurating the bust of Bengali social reformer, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, at a city college marks one of the areas in which she is at loggerheads with the BJP.
The bust was damaged 27 days ago during a rally by BJP party President Amit Shah. Both TMC and the BJP had accused each other of vandalising the statue.
Later, Banerjee while inaugurating ITC’s Royal Bengal Hotel, reiterated the charge that the State was “being deliberately defamed”.
Addressing industry captains present at the event, the Chief Minister claimed Bengal was amongst the “most stable States economically”.
Moreover, the fact that no man were days lost indicate that there is a “sea change in its work culture” and bandhs were a thing of the past.
“Remember what the State was 34 years back; and, what it is now. Politically, you can say anything; but fact is economically we are one of the most stable States across the country,” she said.