West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Monday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of threatening people to send probe agencies to their homes if they do not vote for the saffron party in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Mamata Banerjee also asserted that she will not follow any diktat of the BJP to worship any particular god.
“I follow Ramayana, Quran, Bible and Guru Granth Sahib… I do not do drama by visiting poor people’s homes to eat food brought from outside,” the West Bengal chief minister said during a public distribution programme in Cooch Behar.
She advised locals in Cooch Behar, particularly Rajbanshis, to ensure that their names are on the voters’ list to “protect themselves” from the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA.
“The BJP is using central agencies for elections… it is threatening people over the phone to send Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths to their homes if they do not vote for the saffron party,” Mamata Banerjee said.
She also alleged that the Centre is bringing up the issue of CAA to do politics before the Lok Sabha polls.
“We have fought against the NRC. Rajbanshis are citizens of India. They have again started shouting CAA, CAA for the sake of votes,” the CM said.
Her remarks came after Union minister Shantanu Thakur said on Sunday that the CAA will be implemented across the country in a week.
The West Bengal CM said that her government has acknowledged all colonies as “permanent addresses”, and all residents who get the benefit of various state government benefits are citizens of the country. “All of you are citizens. We have given permanent addresses to all colonies. They get ration, go to school, get scholarships, get Kisan Bandhu, Shikhashree, Oikoshree, Laxmir Bhandar. How could they get these benefits if they had not been citizens? Had they been able to cast votes if they were not citizens?” she asked.
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Published: 29 Jan 2024, 04:12 PM IST