Kolkata: After Hindu-Muslim politics, poll-bound West Bengal is now witnessing a tussle between Bengali and non-Bengali.
At a time when public perception is that the non-Bengalis are in favour of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday claimed that non-Bengalis residing in this state are with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) as the ruling party doesn’t discriminate over language.
“The BJP discriminates over language, but TMC doesn’t. As chief minister, everyone is equal. We have recognized Hindi, Kurmi, Urdu languages. If Bengalis have the right to learn in Bengali, others also have that right,” remarked the TMC supremo.
BJP wasted no time in slamming Mamata Banerjee, calling her ‘divisive’ and ‘dangerous’.
“When Mamata Banerjee calls non-Bengali BJP workers as outsiders, she is faking concern just to get votes. By including family members of the Maoists in the state government, she is just repeating her stand of 2011 when she took the help of Maoist Kishanji of Jangalmahal to form the state government,” observed West Bengal BJP vice-president Jai Prakash Majumdar.
Notably, Mamata inducted 1543 people, belonging to Maoists families of Jangalmahal, into the mainstream on Thursday under the banner of ‘Jagrata Bangla’ (Awakened Bengal).
Poll analysts say that as the assembly election gets closer, political leaders will try harder to reach out to the common voters.
“Language, religion, saints become everyone’s own ahead of elections. Giving out doles is also common,” analysts noted.
Recently, TMC and BJP clashed over Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Vivekananda and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
