Mamata Banerjee mounted a scathing offensive on the RSS on Saturday night, tearing into the grand marshal of the saffron ecosystem for allegedly spreading lies regarding recent violence and vandalism in the state.
In the garb of yet another appeal for peace as the Bengal chief minister, she pulled no punches regarding the RSS and said its outfits were engaged in politics of division.
“BJP and its allies have suddenly become very aggressive in West Bengal. These allies include RSS. I have not taken the RSS’s name earlier, but I am being forced now to identify them. Together, they all have initiated a vicious false campaign in the State. These forces are using the backdrop of an unfortunate incident that happened on provocation. They are using the backdrop to play divisive politics. They are planning to play the divide and rule game. This is sinister,” wrote the Trinamool Congress chief in an appeal to "friends (people)". She made the appeal on the letterhead of the chief minister.
The letter came three days after she squarely blamed Union home minister Amit Shah and the central agencies under his control for the waqf-related unrest in Bengal.
“My appeal is: please remain calm. We condemn communal riots and must curb them. The criminals behind the riots are being strongly dealt with. But, simultaneously, we must avoid mutual mistrust and distrust. The majority and the minority communities must work together and take care of each other,” she added, amid rising pressure on her dispensation for the perceived failure to maintain law and order, primarily on account of her alleged prioritisation of the so-called politics of appeasement.
Muslims form a third of Bengal’s electorate and determine the outcome in around 120 of the 294 Assembly seats.
Mamata alleged the Sangh parivar had originally planned to use Ram Navami for toying with fire, but since Bengal remained peaceful then, they tried to use matters pertaining to the protests against the Waqf (Amendment) Act.
“BJP and its allies are defaming the universal Hinduism of ours in the name of their so-called political agenda…. This universal religion teaches me to embrace all, accept all, love all…. In contrast, what the BJP and their allies are propagating are false and narrow,” she wrote.
“They want to incite riots, and riots can affect everyone. We love all. We want to stay together. We condemn riots,” added the chief minister.
Asserting how her government has taken stern action for the maintenance of law and order and saving human lives and dignity, she promised further action and zero tolerance for crimes committed in the unrest.
“Please remember that riots are created neither by Hindus, nor by Muslims riots are engineered by criminals. Strict actions will be taken against all criminals,” she wrote.
With a bit of whataboutery regarding states ruled by the BJP or the NDA, Mamata asserted how Bengal was “poles apart” and a “frontrunner” in the country’s governance and development matrix.
“Those who create riots always come from outside and then go away. We from inside have to now fight against their bad deeds. We shall together survive and win. Do not trust some outsiders who come, create communal tensions and generate riots for their narrow political gain,” she wrote.
“Jealousy has no cure. The jealous cannot go beyond their narrow vision. Our detractors do not want employment, development, creativity…. They want to divert people’s attention away from these burning problems and hence they take resort to inflammatory propaganda,” added Mamata.
