Kolkata: Left parties and the Congress organised here Monday a protest march against communal riots in Delhi last week which has so far claimed 46 lives. They demanded the resignation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The parties, which had also hit the streets Sunday during Shah’s visit here, alleged that the BJP and the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal have an understanding.
CPI(M) politburo member and Left Front chairman Biman Bose, state Congress president Somen Mitra and other leaders of the two parties marched down streets of central Kolkata — from Raja Subodh Mallick Square to Esplanade.
“We are protesting the carnage which took place in Delhi. I heard that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee described the Delhi deaths as genocide,” Bose said.
Earlier in the day, the TMC supremo had described the communal conflagration in Delhi as ‘state-sponsored planned genocide’.
“She (Banerjee) hardly uttered a word when the violence was going on in Delhi. Now that everybody is speaking up against it, she decided to say something,” Bose claimed.
The senior CPI(M) leader also accused the TMC supremo of having an ‘understanding’ with the BJP. He said Banerjee and Amit Shah had lunch together in Bhubaneswar. However, he forgot to mention that the two were invited for lunch by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at his residence. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was also present on the occasion.
“We demand the resignation of Amit Shah as he failed as the Union home minister,” Mitra told reporters.
PTI