Mejia (West Bengal): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused Tuesday Union Home Minister Amit Shah of hatching a conspiracy to harass TMC leaders ahead of the Assembly elections. Mamata Banerjee wondered whether the Election Commission (EC) is working as per Shah’s instructions.
The West Bengal chief minister claimed that Shah is getting ‘frustrated’ by ‘poor turnout’ at his rallies. Banerjee also alleged that the BJP is plotting conspiracies to kill her. She said her security director Vivek Sahay was removed without any reason by the EC after she sustained injuries last week in Nandigram. Banerjee however, asserted no one will stop her from taking forward her battle against the BJP.
“Amit Shah is getting frustrated as there is a poor turnout at his rallies. Instead of running India, he is sitting in Kolkata and hatching a conspiracy to harass TMC leaders. What do they want? Do they want to kill me? Do they think that they will win this election by killing me? They are wrong,” she said while addressing a rally here.
Banerjee also wondered whether the EC has lost its independence. She alleged that the poll panel is working as per Shah’s instructions.
“Is Amit Shah running the EC? He is giving instructions to the EC. What happened to their independence? My director, security (Vivek Sahay) was removed (by EC) as per his instructions,” she alleged.
The BJP was quick to hit back through Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. He said his West Bengal counterpart has been forced to take to ‘Chandi Path’ publicly and visit temples due to the change in people’s mindset after the BJP came to power at the Centre. He also criticised Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his visits to temples in poll-bound states while addressing a rally in Purulia district.
The star campaigner of the saffron party said, a sect of people was created in India, before the BJP-led government assumed power at the Centre in 2014. They believed that even visiting temples would pose a threat to their secular credentials.
“A change has come… Even Mamata didi has started visiting temples and taken to ‘Chandi Path’. Isn’t this a change? This is new India. Each and every person has to go to God. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also goes to temple during election time. And a priest had to tell him to sit in a correct posture when he (Rahul Gandhi) went there,” the UP chief minister said.
The ‘Chandi Path’ is one of the most ancient and complete systems of mantra worship of the divine mother goddess in the Hindu tradition.