Kolkata: Days after Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar wrote to Mamata Banerjee complaining about her "studied silence" on cases of post-election violence in the state, the Chief Minister on Thursday targeted the Central government saying there is "no political violence" anywhere in Bengal and that it is all "BJP's gimmick."
In the same breath, she lashed out at the BJP-led Centre for all its efforts to "control" Twitter saying that they are "bulldozing" the micro-blogging platform failing to influence it as they do to her.
The Chief Minister's statement on post-poll violence comes at a time when not only BJP leaders are raising similar allegations but also the Governor has written a letter to her in this regard.
Without taking names, the Chief Minister criticised his visits to different Central ministers, including Union Home minister Amit Shah in Delhi. In reply to a question regarding Dhankhar's meeting with Shah, Banerjee said: "Of course he can meet (Amit Shah). It is completely his personal matter. After all, he is their man."
Giving a sharp reply against the question of BJP's claims on post-poll violence in the state, Banerjee said: "All such claims are baseless. There is no political violence going on in the state right now. There may have been one or two sporadic incidents but those cannot be called political violence. I would like to say clearly that we do not support any sort of violence. It is nothing but BJP's political gimmick."
The state government has also claimed that there was a stream of fake news and morphed videos concerning the scenario of post-poll violence in Bengal on social media platforms.
Banerjee's reaction against the Centre, BJP and the Governor comes during a programme at Nabanna Sabhaghar from where the Krishak Bandhu scheme was relaunched by doubling the annual financial support to Rs 10,000 each.
Criticising the fight between Twitter India and the government following Union minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad's statement that the microblogging platform had purposely chosen not to comply with new intermediary guidelines, Banerjee said: "I condemn it; they can't control Twitter, so they are trying to bulldoze it. They (Centre) are trying to do so with everyone they are unable to manage. They can't control me, and that is why they are trying to bulldoze my government, too. Journalists, who do not get controlled (by them), are silenced."
Reiterating that at no cost Bengal will get divided again as the BJP has demanded North Bengal as a separate Union Territory. Again, she recently received a video in which supporters of some groups claimed to be reinstating Maoist activities in Jangalmahal. "CID, STF and police have already been instructed to take necessary action as we have received a video," Banerjee said, adding that the police in Bengal works without leaving any stone unturned to ensure peace and harmony in the state. "They (Centre) only give tall talks against China, while on the other hand strengthen their hand.
Our police are active enough and can take immediate action," Banerjee said.
Visits of teams of a series of Central agencies and bodies from Delhi to Bengal also drew flak from the Chief Minister. She stated that they are free to go anywhere but they must also visit Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh where bodies of Covid victims were being dumped in River Ganga and Covid data being manipulated.
In connection with the Shiv Sena's claim of selling of a land, which was bought at Rs 2 crore, to Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust for Rs 18.5 crore, Banerjee said the party must be having evidence when they have made the claims.