West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday strongly criticised the Congress-led UPA Government for creating Telengana by dividing Andhra Pradesh and alleged that it also aimed at dividing West Bengal.
Addressing party workers’ meetings at Itahar in North Dinajpur district and Malda district, both of which are Congress strongholds in North Bengal, she alleged: “The Congress and the BJP aligned together to divide Andhra Pradesh. Their excuse was that small states can be governed better. They are now planning to divide Bengal too on the same pretext and the CPM is also in league with them.”
Banerjee said that under no circumstances would she allow the state to be divided and said the hills of Darjeeling were very much part of West Bengal.
There has been a long standing demand for a separate Gorkhaland state comprising the hill sub divisions of Darjeeling and it is now being spearheaded by the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM), which has extended its support to BJP nominee S S Ahluwalia who is contesting from Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency.
Both North Dinajpur and Malda are Mulsim majority districts in West Bengal and the three Lok Sabha seats there were won by Congress nominees during the 2009 elections.
While Union minister of State for Urban Development Deepa Das Munshi won from Raigunj Lok Sabha constituency, Union Minister of State for Health A H Khan Chowdhury and Mausam Noor won from Maldaha Dakshin and Maldaha Uttar, respectively.
Trying to woo the minority voters, Banerjee accused the Congress of “organising riots in Assam and Uttar Pradesh”.
“The Congress always plays its minority card before each election and then they forget about you. The party has been doing this for the last 66 years. Their leaders are now raising the bogey of Modi just to woo Mulsim votes. But after polls, they will forget you and indulge in communalism just like the BJP,” she alleged.
Banerjee further alleged that the BJP too was trying to fuel communal tension in West Bengal. “Only during elections, they talk about Ram and Hanuman. But where were they during our main festivals like Durga Puja and Kali Puja,” she asked.
The CPM, claimed to be a party of atheists, also indulged in communal politics, she alleged.
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