New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has decided to skip Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s oath-taking ceremony Thursday, upset over the BJP’s decision to invite the families of BJP workers allegedly murdered in political violence in the state.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief announced her decision on Twitter Wednesday afternoon.
The oath-taking ceremony is an august occasion to celebrate democracy, not one that should be devalued by any political party pic.twitter.com/Mznq0xN11Q
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) May 29, 2019
“It was my plan to accept the ‘Constitutional invitation’ and attend the oath-taking ceremony. However, in the last one hour, I am seeing media reports that the BJP are claming 54 people have been murdered in political violence in Bengal,” she tweeted.
“This is completely untrue. There have been no political murders in Bengal… So, I am sorry, Narendra Modi ji, this has compelled me not to attend the ceremony.”
On Tuesday, Banerjee had told reporters in Kolkata that she had been invited to attend Modi’s swearing-in and she would “try to attend it”. A TMC source had also confirmed to ThePrint Wednesday morning that Banerjee was landing in Delhi in the evening.
Sources said Banerjee decided against it as she was peeved by how the BJP was “blatantly politicising” the swearing-in ceremony by inviting the families allegedly murdered by TMC activists in poll-related violence.
The TMC-BJP face-off
The face-off between the BJP and the TMC has only intensified after the national party breached Banerjee’s turf in Bengal and wrested 18 of the 42 parliamentary seats. The TMC’s Lok Sabha tally reduced to 22 from 34 seats it had in 2014.
To add insult to injury, three TMC MLAs along with over 60 councillors joined the BJP in the Capital Tuesday. During campaigning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that at least 40 TMC MLAs were in touch with the BJP.
In the 294-member Assembly in West Bengal, the TMC has 211 seats while the BJP has just three seats.
The state had witnessed one of the most bitter political campaigns during the Lok Sabha elections. It was marked by widespread violence not only during campaigning but also after it. While the BJP accused TMC workers of unleashing the violence in Bengal, the latter claimed that it was the BJP workers who were brutally attacking their party workers.
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This would be a good time to give cooperative federalism a chance to succeed. Dr Tharoor made the fair point that the opposition should respect the mandate, not be cussed or obstructionist, as L K Advani was for a decade. Shri R Jagannathan cautioned against disturbing the freely expressed will of the people of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. As far as Bengal is concerned, an Assembly election is due in two years’ time. Let it be a fair contest, without violence and intimidation.