Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday announced that she will continue to lead her party in protests against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act until the Modi government repeals it.
Holding a crucial core committee meeting at the Trinamool Congress party headquarters in Kolkata, Banerjee announced a detailed plan of meetings and sit-in demonstrations in Kolkata and all 294 assembly constituencies in the state.
The chief minister said the protests will be held every day, adding the Trinamool will hold over 300 meetings, rallies and dharnas in all assembly constituencies starting from 23 December and right until the Act is withdrawn or amended for the better.
“We will be on the streets every day, protesting with you (people) until they change this unconstitutional Act,” she said and also took a dig at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s remarks that his state government will take revenge against those who have damaged public property during the protests against the Act.
“These people are saying that they would take revenge on you (protesters),” Mamata said. “I am ashamed of taking their names. Some people are asking the police to shoot at the protesters. Where is the country heading? What kind of democracy is this?”
Earlier, addressing a public meeting in the Park Circus area, dominated by Muslim population, Mamata appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “roll back” the Act and promise not to implement the NRC.
“If the citizenship Act was so good, why did our PM Modi not vote for it? He was there in the Parliament, but he did not vote,” she said. “I feel that he too did not like the idea of such a draconian and discriminatory act. I would urge him to cancel such a provision and the act. He should listen to the people’s voice in a democracy.”
Also read: Modi govt looking at legal options to challenge Mamata stay on Bengal’s NPR exercise
‘BJP plotting to demonise a particular community’
After the meeting, the chief minister also said her government noticed that some BJP groups are trying to malign the image of a particular community by wearing a special type of clothes, and urged people not to react to such provocations.
“I am getting inputs from places that the BJP is hatching a very serious conspiracy,” Mamata said. “They are buying skull caps and wearing a particular type of clothes to defame a particular community. I am urging everyone to be vigilant and not to fall prey to any such provocation.”
News reports claimed Thursday five men led by a local BJP worker were arrested allegedly for pelting stones at a train in Murshidabad. According to local residents, they were wearing skull caps and lungis. The five were handed over to the police. When ThePrint tried to verify the news, the police authorities did not confirm this.
Mamata brought it up Friday and said the BJP was trying to “malign her image” and that of a particular community. “They (BJP) are also posting fake videos and images against me. They are trying to break this protest,” she said. “That is why I appeal to you to remain calm and composed and continue with peaceful protests.”
The West Bengal Police has been organising awareness camps in various localities to educate people on holding peaceful protests. The Kolkata Police has already organised 68 such meetings over the past two days with the leaders of several minority organisations.
Also read: Violence over citizenship law ebbs in Bengal, but Mamata-Governor war of words continues
CAA one cannot say. The apex court will have the last word. May it be a wise and judicious one. However, pan Indian NRC is dead in the water. CMs of Bihar and Orissa seem to be saying, We kept your prestige on CAA, since in any case our states send out migrant workers, who would come here from Pakistan. But we will not allow a man made bureaucratic tsunami to wash over our people, already among the country’s poorest. This is one fantasy that will come to an abrupt end.