KOLKATA: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday hit out at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over “violence, corruption and polarisation” in West Bengal, accusing the TMC government of snatching the rights of the poor.
Taking a dig at the Mamata government, Shah claimed that had Oscar-awarded filmmaker Satyajit Ray been alive, he would have made a film ‘Hirak Ranir Deshe’ (In the land of the diamond queen)’, depicting the misrule of the CM, instead of ‘Hirak Rajar Deshe’.
“Satyajit Ray was a great artist. He made a movie, ‘Hirak Rajar Deshe’. When Mamata Banerjee’s regime began, Satyajit Ray was not alive. Otherwise, he would have named the movie, ‘Hirak Ranir Deshe’. Mamata Banerjee is ‘Hirak Rani’,” Shah said, addressing a poll rally in Hooghly.
The 1980 classic, starring stalwarts Utpal Dutt and Soumitra Chatterjee, is a dystopian fantasy film that revolves around a tyrannical, megalomaniac king who crushes dissent and torments his subjects.
“Bengal is the land which gave us Vande Mataram and the national anthem Jana Gana Mana, and played a key role in freedom struggle. Both the communists and TMC tried to end nationalism and patriotism in Bengal,” Shah said.
The home minister said that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) is a part of India and “we will take it.”
“After the abrogation of Article 370 by the government in 2019, peace has returned to Kashmir. But now we witness protests in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Earlier slogans of Azadi were heard here (Kashmir), now the same slogans are heard in PoK. Earlier stones were pelted here, now stones are pelted in PoK,” he said.
Targeting the Congress over an old video of its senior leader Mani Shankar Aiyar, he said, “Congress leaders like Mani Shankar Aiyar say it should not be done as they have an atom bomb. But let me say this, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is part of India and we will take it.”
BJP president JP Nadda, addressing a rally in Purulia, accused Mamata of compromising with infiltration and appeasing the minorities.
