Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday urged the residents of north Bengal to give a fitting reply to the BJP for its alleged plan of dividing people in the name of the National Register of Citizens and the Citizenship Amendment Bill.
The request brought the curtains down on her latest north Bengal trip during which she tried her best to recover the ground the Trinamul Congress ceded to the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year.
“North Bengal, please get ready to give a fitting reply to them. We don’t want NRC…. We don’t want people to divide us on the lines of religion and language through the Citizenship Amendment Bill,” Mamata said. “All of us should stay together. We believe in amity, mutual respect and peace. During this Kali Puja, Diwali and Chhat Puja, all of us should join hands and celebrate,” she said.
At a Bijoya Sammilani in Siliguri on October 21, Mamata had said she would love to inaugurate and attend pujas in north Bengal. This prompted the members of Biplab Smriti Athletic Club and its president, Nantu Paul, a Trinamul leader, to approach her for inaugurating their Kali puja.
“I accepted the invitation. From Friday, I will inaugurate a number of pujas in Calcutta. It is good that I could throw open a puja here in Siliguri,” said the chief minister.