Siliguri (WB): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday stepped up her attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and questioned why he frequently compares India with Pakistan.
Addressing a rally against the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Siliguri, Banerjee asked Modi why Modi talks about Pakistan all day.
“It is a shame that even after 70 years of Independence, people have to prove their nationality. We have a rich culture and heritage but despite that I don’t understand why our PM regularly compares India with Pakistan... Is he the PM of India or Pakistan?," she said.
Modi had on Thursday dared the Congress and its allies to raise their voice against Pakistan's atrocities on its minorities for the past 70 years.
Banerjee, who is also the Trinamool Congress chief, said Modi and his party spoke of Pakistan every now and then to divert attention from the prevailing economic crisis and unemployment in India.
"Is he their ambassador? If someone says ‘give me job, I have no work’, he says go to Pakistan. If someone says there are no industries, he says go to Pakistan. Pakistan 'ka charcha Pakistan kare, hum Hindustan ka charcha kyun karenge, yeh humaari janmabhoomi hai' (Let Pakistan talk about themselves, why we will talk about Pakistan" We should talk about Hindustan)," she said.
Claiming that the BJP is "deliberately" creating confusion over the implementation of NRC, Banerjee said, “The Prime Minister is saying the NRC will not be implemented but his ministers are claiming that the exercise will be conducted across the country," she said, adding that she will continue her protests against the CAA and West Bengal will not tolerate the divisive and hate politics in the name of religion at any cost.
Banerjee accused the BJP of "deliberately" creating confusion over the implementation of the NRC, saying its leaders have been making contradictory statements on the issue.
"On one hand, the prime minister says there will be no NRC; on the other, the Union Home Minister (Amit Shah) and other BJP ministers claim the exercise will be conducted across the country," she said.
Talking about the recent clashes over the citizenship law in Uttar Pradesh, which claimed several lives, Banerjee, in a veiled attack on her counterpart Yogi Adityanath, said, "Those that cannot rule are governing major states."
Dubbing her fight against the amended law as the "second war of Independence", she said, "They (BJP) just know how to divide the nation on the basis of religion. But myreligion is to defend the freedom of people. We have to save the country from bigotry," she added.
(With inputs from PTI)
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