KOLKATA: In an indirect reply to a bounty announced on her head, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee stated a popular Hindi proverb to indicate that she is not afraid of death.
“Jo dar gaya so mar gaya (One who is afraid is already dead). Elahi bharosa (God is with me),” she said during the inauguration of Sagardighi thermal power plant’s fourth unit in Murshidabad district of West Bengal on Wednesday.
Political parties of West Bengal irrespective of their colours condemned the Rs 11 lakh bounty announced by Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) leader from Aligarh, Yogesh Varshney on Mamata Banerjee’s head.
Demanding Varshney’s arrest, Trinamool Congress leaders have dared the BJYM to come to West Bengal and issue the bounty. “Mamata Banerjee had faced several attacks by CPM. She survived and grew stronger after each attack. These people sitting in New Delhi and Aligarh have no idea of her struggles. The BJYM leader must immediately be arrested. If he has so much courage, I dare him to come to West Bengal and announce the bounty. Our TMC workers are prepared. Mamata Banerjee is the apple of the eye of people of West Bengal. We will make sure that no harm is done to Mamata,” said education minister and Mamata’s close aide Partha Chatterjee.
Urban development and municipal affairs minister Firhad Hakim has compared the statement with those issued by Islamic extremists. “Such fatwas are issued by ISIS and Taliban. People will not accept threats to people’s leader Mamata Banerjee,” he said.
Panchayat and rural development minister Subrata Mukherjee has said that BJP has imported politics of madness to the State and that nobody can dare touch Mamata.
On the other hand, opposition Congress has clarified that despite having sharp differences with policies of Mamata Banerjee, they would never support such statements. “Such abusive threats can’t be tolerated. Even I have many disagreements with Mamata Banerjee,” said Congress Rajya Sabha MP Pradip Bhattacharya.
Leader of Opposition Abdul Mannan said that threats of violence can’t be accepted in electoral politics.
Lok Sabha MP and CPM politburo member Mohammad Salim tried to make pun of the statement. “Religious extremists may be different but their modus operandi is the same. It is high time that BJP rein in into what it calls ‘fringe elements’. Why should BJP want Mamata’s head when she has already bowed it down to Narendra Modi,” he said.
BJP distanced itself from the statement fearing that it will bring a bad name to the party. “I would request people not to destroy the development image of the party by giving such statements,” said Union minister of state for heavy industries Babul Supriyo.