Mamata Banerjee ups ante, dares Narendra Modi to arrest her

KOLKATA: Intensifying her attack against the Narendra Modi government, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said the Centre’s demonetisation decision was the biggest scam and it must be thoroughly investigated.

“I want to know how big a deal was stuck over this decision. How many crores worth is the deal. Demonetisation is a big big scam,” she said while addressing a public meeting at Kolaghat in East Midnapore.

“The government at the Centre has turned everyone into a thief, while the Narendra Modi government and Amit Shah’s party are the biggest thieves,” she claimed. Throwing a “challenge” at Mr Modi, Ms Banerjee said if he had the power, he should arrest her.“I will say this not once but a thousand times that you have stolen money. You do not have to touch anybody. If you have the courage then send us to jail,” she said.

Ms Banerjee has been extremely upset over CBI’s summons to veteran Trinamul Congress MP Sudip Bandopadhyay and she has already accused the Modi government of playing “vendetta politics” by misusing the central investigation agency.

Significantly, Ms Banerjee directly accused the Prime Minister of corruption on a day when Congress vice—president Rahul Gandhi alleged that Mr Modi had received crores in kickbacks when he was chief minister of Gujarat.

She also issued an official statement pointing out that earlier the principal secretary of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal harassed. “Now I read chief secretary of Tamil Nadu has also been raided. Why this vindictive, unethical, technically improper action? Is it only to disturb the federal structure? Why don’t they raid Amit Shah and others who are collecting money?” she asked.

Ms Banerjee claimed that the Modi-Shah duo has destroyed the country. “In this country either Modi or the people can live,” said the state chief minister. Speaking at a public rally in Gujarat, Mr Gandhi alleged that Income-Tax raids had revealed that the “Sahara group paid off Narendra Modiji nine times in six months” starting 2013.

Claiming that the Modi government was functioning in an unconstitutional manner and trying to impose undeclared Emergency in the country, she said: “ They are trying to weaken a state government by targeting its bureaucrats. The BJP has amassed the maximum amount of money. Why no action has been taken against the party?”

At the Kolaghat rally, directly addressing Mr Modi she said she wanted an investigation against the prime minister, his government and his party. “ The cat is out of the bag. We want to know what was the cause behind demonetisation?” she asked. Launching an all-out attack, Ms Banerjee warned Mr Modi that the people of India will not forgive them.