Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday wondered if Prime Minister Narendra Modi was asleep during the violence against women to counter his attack on her government a day before over the same issue at Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas.
The Trinamul Congress supremo said at a party rally in Alipurduar, “Can Mr Modi answer how many times he went to Hathras, where a Dalit rape victim was cremated in the dead of night without her parents’ consent? Was he sleeping then?”
She claimed, “They failed to deliver justice to Bilkis Bano. Wrestler Sakshi Malik was forced to return her awards and accolades whereas the BJP MP accused of sexual assault faced no action. Isn’t the BJP ashamed? How many people died because of them in the Gujarat riots? So many died in Assam over the CAA-NRC issue. Compare this to Sandeshkhali and people will see that we have looked into every concern.”
Ms Banerjee added, “The PM even declared his fight against corruption and the atrocities in Sandeshkhali. I want to let him know that Sandeshkhali is not Singur or Nandigram. A few incidents took place locally but arrests have already been made. It was our police who made the arrests. We have returned the land to the people as we don’t allow injustice against anyone.”
Coming down heavily on Mr Modi for campaigning for Nishith Pramanik who is the union minister of state for home affairs and contesting from Cooch Behar again, the CM alleged, “Before branding others as corrupt, the PM and his team should first look into the mirror themselves. We had removed him (Mr Pramanik) from Cooch Behar as he would engage in bombings, murders, riots, corruption, and smuggling.”
“There are documented cases against him. How can someone with so many criminal cases become MoS Home Minister? He was an aapod (problem) for us and now has become their sompod (wealth)!”
