By PTI
KOLKATA: Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari, along with several other BJP MLAs, on Thursday held a “symbolic protest” on the state assembly premises against the alleged disrespect shown to the national anthem by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during her visit to Mumbai.
The Trinamool Congress dubbed the allegations as “baseless” and claimed that the BJP is enacting a drama to defame the party supremo.
National TV channels showed Banerjee at an event with lyricist Javed Akhtar where she began singing the national anthem while seated, getting up and stopping midway through it.
Adhikari sang the national anthem along with some other party MLAs in front of the statue of B R Ambedkar on the premises of the assembly, terming it a symbolic protest against the “disrespect” shown by Banerjee to the national anthem.
Adhikari said he and six-seven party MLAs who came to the Assembly decided to gather before the statue of B R Ambedkar and sing the national anthem “praying to the Bharat Mata to forgive the disrespect to the national anthem in Mumbai the day before by someone from Bengal which brought disgrace to the state.”
Insult to the national anthem is unacceptable, he said.
The BJP’s West Bengal president Sukanta Majumdar tweeted: “Bengal CM@MamataOfficial sitting at a Constitution post insults National Anthem at a gathering in Mumbai. Doesn’t she know proper National Anthem etiquette, or is she insulting knowingly?” According to the state BJP unit, its Mumbai counterpart has lodged a police complaint on the matter.
A Trinamool Congress leader said Banerjee did not insult the national anthem, and the BJP is unnecessarily trying to create controversy over the event.
“The BJP, which is plagued with infighting, is trying to make an issue out of a non-issue,” TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said.
During her two-day visit to Mumbai, Banerjee met leaders of the Shiv Sena and the NCP, besides noted personalities, intellectuals and industrialists.
BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar in a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah Thursday requested him to order an NIA probe into a blast at a house in South 24 Parganas district that claimed three lives.
Three others were injured in the blast that occurred at a local man’s house in Nodakhali area of the district on Wednesday.
“We demand an NIA probe into the incident. The state police and state investigating agencies will not bring to book those who are behind the blast. I have written a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah Ji requesting him to intervene and order an NIA probe into it,” he said.
The situation is tense there and instead of solving the issue the local police is busy trying to “hush up the matter”, Majumdar claimed.
Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari told reporters here that he has apprised the Union Home Minister of the blast and the possibility that jihadi groups might be hoarding explosives.
“We demand an NIA probe into the incident. The state police and the state investigating agencies will not bring to book those who are behind the incident as some Trinamool Congress leaders are abetting those elements,” Adhikari said.
Police suspect that the man along with others operated an illegal cracker manufacturing unit at his two-storey home.
The saffron party has also moved the Supreme Court on Thursday praying for deployment of central paramilitary forces during the coming municipal elections in West Bengal, claiming that it the state had witnessed violence during past civic polls when security was provided by state police force.
The party has already raised the issue with Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said.
“Going by the experience of 2018 panchayat polls and past municipal elections, there will be widespread violence if the voting takes place under the supervision of state police. The opposition will not be allowed to campaign and voters will not be allowed to vote. Only central forces can prevent such a situation,” Majumdar added.
So, the BJP moved the Supreme Court seeking central paramilitary forces during civic polls, he said.
Elections to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation are scheduled to be held on December 19, and polls to the other municipal bodies are likely to be conducted in phases thereafter.
In a letter to the SEC on Thursday, the BJP demanded deployment of central armed police force for free and fair polls and warned that the state poll panel would be held responsible for any untoward incident during elections.
Two days back, a BJP delegation met the governor and urged him to give direction to the State Election Commission (SEC) to hold the civic polls under the supervision of central forces.
Dhankhar on Tuesday said he has assured the BJP delegation of taking up with the SEC.
In a letter to the governor, the BJP referred to the precedent in 2013 when the SEC had approached the Supreme Court for the deployment of central forces in municipal polls, while the West Bengal government was in favour of holding the polls under the supervision of state police.
In a dig at the BJP’s demand, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said, “Thousands of central paramilitary force personnel were deployed during the last assembly polls in the state and the Trinamool Congress secured 213 seats. Our tally went up to 217 after the TMC won in subsequent by-elections and elections.”
The BJP may want central forces but that will not change the slide in its fortunes, Ghosh claimed.
