PATNA: Lashing out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for having reprimanded a group of men for chanting 'Jai Shri Ram', Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi Saturday accused the TMC supremo of conspiring to "drive away lakhs of Hindi-speaking people" from her state.
Modi claimed the West Bengal government has been providing asylum to Bangladeshi infiltrators.
"The way Mamata Banerjee rebuked those chanting 'Jai Shri Ram' and got them detained by police makes it apparent that the Trinamool government, which has been providing asylum to Bangladeshi infiltrators, is indulging in a conspiracy to drive away lakhs of Hindi-speaking people who live in her state," the senior BJP leader tweeted.
"Mamata Banerjee should clarify whether in West Bengal people have been stripped of the religious right to chant 'Jai Shri Ram'.
She should be asked whether people can be prevented from living in a state because they speak a particular language and practice a certain religion," he added.
The Bihar Deputy chief minister's remarks came in the backdrop of a recent incident in the Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat, which the Trinamool Congress lost to the BJP in the general elections.
A viral video showed Banerjee allegedly stopping her car and stepping out in fury upon hearing chants of 'Jai Shri Ram' from a group of bystanders, as her cavalcade drove past.
"What do you think of yourself? You will come from other states, stay here and abuse us? I will not tolerate this," she was reportedly heard saying in the video.
Meanwhile, Modi also took potshots at RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, whom he did not mention by name, asking "why are those indulging in the farce of saving the Constitution silent. Do they have no concern for Hindi-speaking Biharis in the adjoining state".
Yadav, who has been RJD's de facto leader ever since his father and founding president Lalu Prasad was convicted in fodder scam cases, had shared the stage with Banerjee at a rally in Kolkata earlier this year, where leaders from over 20 parties opposed to the BJP had taken part.
The young leader had also made a dash to Kolkata when Banerjee had staged a sit-in against a CBI team's visit to interrogate the city's Commissioner of Police Rajeev Kumar in a corruption case.