Kolkata, March 6
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday gave out slogan "Delhi Chalo" and vowed to imprint her party's footsteps in the national capital, but claimed that they would not look for any benefits other than betterment of the country.
She also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of trying to trigger a communal riot in the state by throwing meat in religious places, and announced cash reward of Rs 1,000 or jobs to people who catch such offenders.
"Bengal does not want anything but the betterment of the country. Our target is the Red Fort in Delhi. Let's go to Delhi. We believe in Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's slogan - 'Delhi Chalo'. So Bengal will win over the country, win over the world in future," Banerjee said in a public meeting here.
She said Bengal would stand by everyone in the fight against the Centre but would not demand any benefit for themselves.
"Bengal will not take anything for themselves but they will stand by everyone. They will take everyone along and fight. They will show what Bengal can do, no one else can," she claimed amid massive cheers from the crowd.
In a veiled attack on the Centre's ruling party BJP, the Trinamool Congress supremo accused them of trying to buy off the poor people by giving out cash and dividing people along communal lines.
"Being poor and coming from a poor family is not a crime but if someone tries to buy off the poor men by giving money, that is a crime. When someone tries to bring people on their side by triggering communal riot, that is a crime," she said.
Charging the BJP-RSS with trying to trigger a communal riot by secretly throwing meat in religious places, she urged the police to form community development committees in every locality to catch the offenders and to engage local people in keeping an eye on such incidents.
"They have started a new conspiracy recently. They are giving money to some people and asking them to throw meat in temples and mosques. This is a conspiracy, a deliberate attempt to inflict a communal riot by the BJP-RSS," Banerjee said during an administrative meeting in Jhargram.
"They are doing this to set off a riot between the two communities. I am sure they would try the same trick during Ram Navami. I do not need to see who is Hindu and who is Muslim. I am in favour of everyone. An offender is an offender."
Banerjee said she has instructed the inspectors in-charge in all police stations to be alert.
"We have seen this happening in two places in the North 24 Parganas district in quick succession. Some BJP-RSS activists were arrested in the incident in Habra. That's why I am taking their name. If Trinamool Congress activists had been arrested, I would have mentioned them as well," said the Trinamool Congress supremo.
"Involve the local public. If someone catches such offenders, award him or her with a prize money of Rs 1,000. I will provide jobs to some and money to others if they successfully intercept such offenders," she added.
Mamata should better concentrate on her state: Bengal BJP chief
Ridiculing Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's call for "Delhi Chalo" to her workers, West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh on Monday said after her party's performance in Tripura polls, she should better concentrate on Bengal and stop being a big mouth.
"Trinamool has polled less than 0.3 per cent votes in Tripura, which is even less than the votes recorded under NOTA (None of the Above) in the election. But still Didi (Banerjee) dreams of going to Delhi.
"Her party has shut shop in Manipura, its shutters have come down in Tripura, the signboard has been removed in Punjab... So, she should desist from taking about Delhi, stop being a big mouth and rather concentrate on Bengal," he said.
About Banerjee's efforts to cobble up a third front, Ghosh said: "Who will she join hands with? RJD leader Laloo Prasad is in jail, she cannot decide whether to holds hands of the feuding father or the feuding son of the Samajwadi Party. And so, she has now joined hands with the Shiv Sena, which she has been labelling as communal all these years."
On reports that TRS leader K.C. Rao would come to Kolkata on Tuesday and talk to Banerjee, Ghosh said: "I would caution him that before reaching Bengal, he should read Didi's history. Whoeve she has joined hands with has been ruined. So I urge KCR, not to hold hands with her."
Responding to Banerjee's allegation that the BJP and the RSS cadres were throwing meat at religious placed to foment communal trouble, Ghosh said: "Banerjee is seeing nightmares in Bengal after what happened in Tripura. Be it BJP, or RSS, whoever is involved, the court will give them punishment.
"But how can she say so? Cadres of Jamaat, SIMI and Al Qaida are roaming freely in the state. They are being arrested daily," he said.
Asked whether the Tripura verdict -- where the BJP has come to power by unseating the 25-year-old Left Front regime -- would impact Bengal, he said: "It is already... It has already impacted Trinamool."
