Bengal must fight communal forces and maintain unity, says Abhishek

Kolkata: On the occasion of Eid, Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, on Thursday, said that Bengal must fight against communal forces that seek to divide the country and tarnish its secular fabric.

Banerjee was speaking at the Red Road event. Alluding to the BJP, he said that the communal forces that seek to divide people based on Hindu and Muslim, cause rifts among brothers, must be defeated in the coming days.

Speaking on maintaining unity, Banerjee said: “Neither the moon nor the water we drink, nor the air we breathe has any religion. Those who want to divide the society based on religion must be ousted from power.”

Banerjee, through poetry (shayari), told the gathering that people are the owners of the government they elect while the elected representatives are their tenants. Hence, an elected government must always treat its voters with respect and cater to their demands. Abhishek’s comments gain significance in the wake of the Lok Sabha elections where the BJP is seeking to make inroads in Bengal. This time, the saffron brigade is certain it will increase both its number of seats and vote share. Even as the BJP believes that the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will reap benefits for them, especially in areas with Rajbanshi and Matua population.

Union Home minister Amit Shah, on Wednesday, had accused TMC supremo and chief minister Mamata Banerjee of misleading people on the CAA and promised that if Bengal gives at least 30 seats to BJP it will be ensured that the alleged cross-border infiltration into the state stops completely.

However, Trinamool has raised counter-arguments that border security is in the hands of the Union Home Ministry and if Shah is admitting that infiltration is taking place then he must admit his failure and step down from his position.