KOLKATA: Hitting back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his jibe at the Opposition for “speaking Pakistan’s language”, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday accused him of raking up the Pakistan bogey to hide his government’s failures.
“India is a big country with rich culture and heritage. Why do you regularly compare our nation with Pakistan? Are you the Prime Minister of India or the ambassador of Pakistan? Why do you glorify Pakistan on every issue?’’ said Mamata, while addressing a rally after leading a protest-march against the CAA in Siliguri.
Referring to Modi’s statement on Thursday asking the Congress and its allies to raise their voice against Pakistan’s atrocities on its minorities for the past 70 years, Mamata said, “Why do you have to refer to Pakistan on every issue? You should speak of Hindustan. We don’t want to be Pakistan.’’
The Trinamool supremo said the PM and his party spoke of Pakistan to divert attention from the prevailing economic crisis and unemployment. “If someone says I have no work, give me job, the Prime Minister says ‘go to Pakistan’. If someone says we don’t have industries, he says ‘go to Pakistan’. Pakistan can talk about themselves as much as they want. But we should talk about India, this is our motherland,’’ she said.
Mamata said it was a shame that people were being asked to prove their nationality even 70 years after Independence.
Announcing to continue protests till the amended citizenship law was scrapped, Mamata accused the BJP of deliberately creating confusion over the issue the CAA and the NRC. “On one hand, the PM says there will be no NRC. On the other hand, Union home minister and other ministers say the exercise will be executed across the country,’’ she said.