Abhishek accuses BJP of ‘political vulturism’, says Shah most unsuccessful HM ‘since Independence’
Kolkata: After Union Home Minister Amit Shah, at a rally in Barrackpore, blamed the Bengal government for the Anandapur fire tragedy, Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee accused the BJP of political vulturism and exploiting tragedies for political gains. The TMC MP also described Amit Shah as the “most unsuccessful Home minister” the country has seen, accusing him of failing to ensure internal security and shifting the blame onto political opponents. Banerjee, before leaving for Delhi at the Kolkata airport, asked if Shah’s party and the Union government would take the responsibilities behind the deaths of 140-odd people in Bengal that happened allegedly because of the implementation of SIR.
“Why politicise unfortunate incidents? Then someone can say 140 people died because of SIR, and the Prime Minister is responsible. In Indore, people died after drinking contaminated water, so the BJP is responsible,” Banerjee said. Accusing the BJP of practising divisive politics, he stated: “BJP’s politics is the politics of division and hatred. Amit Shah comes to Bengal every month before elections. Once it is over, they are not found. Shah is the most unsuccessful and faded Home minister of India after Independence.” While addressing a BJP Karyakarta Sammelan in Barrackpore, Shah remarked that the fire was not an accident but a result of institutionalised corruption and criminal negligence on the part of the Trinamool Congress government.
After Amit Shah questioned why the owner of food chain Wow! Momo accompanied the Bengal Chief Minister on her foreign tour, Banerjee responded by saying: “If someone is a businessman, who else will accompany the Chief Minister to a business event? I am not supporting everything, but they are doing politics over the Anandapur fire,” she said. “Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, who looted huge amounts of money and fled from the country, were seen accompanying Modi in a foreign trip,” Banerjee added. Drawing parallels with incidents in other states, he added: “When there was a fire in Goa, can we say Modi is responsible?” Banerjee also reacted to Shah’s remarks that the latter would carry out probes to corruptions of Bengal by a Supreme Court judge if the BJP comes to power and said: “He was keeping persons around him who are accused of corruption. The BJP is not fighting against corruption. There are lots of examples that BJP leaders are corrupt, starting from the Assam Chief Minister, to many others,” Banerjee said. “Shah should hold a mirror to his own party”, said Banerjee, questioning why corruption charges against certain leaders were dropped after they joined the BJP.
Rubbishing Shah’s claims that the Centre has given Bengal Rs 10 lakh crore, Banerjee said: “Why does the Centre fear publishing a white paper to support their claims. In the past seven years, the Centre took away Rs 6.5 lakh crore from Bengal under GST and Income Tax. They stopped providing funds under Awas Yojana, Jal Jeevan Mission, MGNREGA, roads, etc., after they lost the 2021 Assembly polls.” Shah’s “Ghuspaithiya, Bengal’s vote bank” jibes were also countered by Banerjee, who asked if the Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen was a “Ghuspaithiya” as he was served a hearing notice. “Are cricketer Mohammed Shami, former Indian women’s team captain Jhulan Goswami and actor Dev infiltrators?” Banerjee asked.
