Digha (WB), 4 Apr: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday accused the BJP of organising violence during Ram Navami processions and asserted that she would not let any rioter go scot-free and warned that strict action would be taken against \u201cdangabaaz\u201d (rioters).
\nAddressing a rally in Purba Medinipur district, Banerjee also took a dig at Union Home Minister Amit Shah without naming him and pointed out that BJP had said if it comes to power in Bihar, it would hang rioters \u201cupside down\u201d and wondered why such action was not being taken against \u201ctheir \u2018goondas\u2019\u201d.
\nClashes were reported in Hooghly and Howrah districts during Ram Navami processions over the last few days.
\n\u201cThe BJP is behind the violence in Hooghly and Howrah. They had brought in hired \u2018goondas\u2019 from other states to unleash violence in Bengal, which is not in our culture. They are defaming the Hindu religion by pitting one community against another. But rioters have no religion, they are just political goons. I appeal to everyone to maintain calm,\u201d she said.
\nTaking a dig at Union Home Minister Amit Shah, without naming him, she said, \u201cThe BJP said if the party comes to power in Bihar, it would hang rioters upside down. Then why are they not doing that to their `goondas\u2019 who are fomenting trouble in Bengal? Charity begins at home.\u201d Shah had made the remark during a recent public rally in Nawada district of Bihar, which has also witnessed communal clashes during Ram Navami.
\nTaking potshots at the CPI(M), she alleged that \u2018Baam\u2019 (Left) and \u2018Ram\u2019 (BJP) have joined hands against the TMC.
\n\u201cI am on the phone constantly because we don\u2019t know when and where BJP will start violence,\u201d she said, adding that people in the \u201cprocessions organised by BJP\u201d have been found carrying weapons.
\nBengal Police have arrested a man from Bihar\u2019s Munger for allegedly carrying a gun during a Ram Navami procession in Howrah district last week, a senior officer said on Tuesday.
\n\u201cHe has been arrested from Bihar\u2019s Munger. During interrogation, the youth admitted that he carried a revolver with him during the Ram Navami procession. He was seen in the video. We have handed over him to the state CID,\u201d the officer told PTI.
\nBanerjee said as people in Bengal didn\u2019t take part in violence, the BJP has started bringing in people from outside the State to incite violence.
\n\u201cBengal government is making all efforts to restore the livelihood of those affected by the violence. We had recently passed a law where losses suffered during organised protests would be compensated by attaching and auctioning off the alleged vandals\u2019 properties,\u201d she said.
\n\u201cIt is a criminal act. Under the garb of the Ram Navami procession, they are asking people to carry guns and swords to incite violence,\u201d she said.
\nThe chief minister said she had never opposed Ram Navami processions, but BJP leaders were bringing in bulldozers, tractors, petrol bombs, guns and swords to these rallies. (PTI)
\n\u201cThese rioters have no religion; their only identity is that they are political goons hired by the BJP. They are destroying the name of Lord Ram. I am also a Hindu, a follower of Swami Vivekananda\u2019s Hinduism \u2026 I don\u2019t believe in BJP\u2019s Hindutva,\u201d she said. PTI<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Digha (WB), 4 Apr: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday accused the BJP of organising violence during Ram Navami processions and asserted that she would not let any rioter go scot-free and warned that strict action would be taken against \u201cdangabaaz\u201d (rioters). Addressing a rally in Purba Medinipur district, Banerjee also took a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-214302","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-national"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214302\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}