NEW DELHI: The BJP on Wednesday claimed that the tribal couple who hosted the party chief Amit Shah for a lunch in Naxalbari was forced to join the Trinamool Congress under pressure. Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad charged that the tribal couple was abducted first and later presented before the media as workers of the Trinamool Congress in the shadow of the police.
“Naxalbari has a history of political violence. The BJP chief Amit Shah visited the place to stand with the party workers facing the political violence. The tribal couple Raju Maheli and Geeta Maheli hosted the BJP chief over lunch. But in a clear case of revenge politics the tribal couple was pressurised to join the TMC,” the minister charged, while speaking to reporters.
Prasad said that the tribal couple was “abducted” and all attempts of the BJP workers to lodge an FIR were frustrated by the local administration. Afterwards, the couple was presented as TMC workers with the police personnel around their home in a clear case of intimidation. “The BJP is saddened and hurt by the use of force to intimidate a tribal couple, but we are not concerned. The TMC cannot stop the expansion of the BJP in the state with such tactics. The state chief minister Mamata Banerjee cannot stop the march of democracy in West Bengal by using force on people,” Prasad stated.
The Union minister drew parallel with actions against Union Minister Babul Supriyo and Rajya Sabha MP Rupa Ganguly by the West Bengal government to claim that the ruling TMC is rattled with the rise of the BJP in the state in the recent times.