Kolkata: Retaliating against BJP president JP Nadda’s criticism of ‘divide and rule’ by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal, the Mamata Banerjee-led party hit back Monday. The TMC accused the NDA government at the Centre of doing so to the people of India. It struck back at JP Nadda for ‘peddling lies and misinformation’ to the people of West Bengal.
The TMC refuted Nadda’s claims that central funds are not being utilised properly. It said the BJP national president should stop making ‘baseless’ statements and get his ‘facts and figures corrected’.
Nadda had criticised the TMC at a meeting with social groups at Siliguri earlier during the day. He had accused the Mamata Banerjee government in the state of indulging in ‘divide and rule politics’ to serve the political interests of TMC, unlike BJP which ‘works for the development of all’.
The party reacted through a sharply-worded statement, released by TMC Rajya Sabha leader and its spokesperson Derek O’ Brien. “(Durga) Pujo greetings to JP Naddaji and his family. In the best traditions of our great state, Bengal, this is the time of the year which is not the occasion for politics or bickering. This is the time for joy and sharing. This culture, this decency, is deeply enshrined in the ethos of every person who lives in Bengal,” the statement said.
“This irony is not lost when the president of the BJP talks about ‘divide and rule’. Divide and rule is a ploy learnt from the colonial past and played out deviously every day by your party (BJP),” O’Brien stated.
The BJP government at the Centre which has ‘done everything it can to divide and rule the people of this great nation’ over the last six years it has been in power, O’Brien asserted.
Brien said there were gaping holes in Nadda’s speech in Siliguri but the TMC ‘will not defile this auspicious occasion’.
Senior TMC leader and West Bengal Firhad Hakim criticised Nadda for spreading ‘lies and misinformation’ and not being aware of the ground reality.
“He (Nadda) is making baseless statements and should get his facts and figures corrected. He should stop peddling lies and misinformation. The central government itself has stopped sending funds due to GST compensation and JP Nadda is lecturing opposition ruled states and making politically motivated statements,” Hakim said.