West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Credit: PTI Photo
Ashokenagar, West Bengal: Taking a strong view of the BJP's charges that the TMC was involved in vandalisation of properties of Ramakrishna Mission in Jalpaiguri district, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday accused the saffron camp of falsely implicating her party over an incident triggered by property dispute.
Addressing an election rally in support of TMC candidate from Barasat Lok Sabha seat Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Banerjee said she had always been supportive of the RKM and other socio-religious organisations.
Banerjee claimed that she renovated the residence of Sister Nivedita in Kolkata and the birthplace of Swami Vivekananda.
"I don’t discriminate among religions. I work for renovating places of worship of all religions," she said.
"I may go for defamation for maligning me and my party for spreading misinformation against our party. If anything happens in the state, the report comes to me as an administrator immediately. I did not get any such update. We have great respect for religious organisations like RKM and others," Banerjee said.
Miscreants have vandalised the premises of the Ramakrishna Mission in Jalpaiguri district and threatened monks and other employees at gunpoint to leave the place, an RKM official said Monday.
The official said that a local land mafia was behind the early Sunday morning incident.
"Many people donate property for religious reasons and then some dispute may break out. Police are investigating and action will be taken. But how dare you (BJP) implicate anyone without ascertaining the matter." she said while referring to the vandalisation of the RKM ashram at Salugara in Jalpaiguri.
About the minority appeasement charges against the TMC, she said, "I won’t hanker for a certificate about my Hindu identity from BJP, but for me, all religions are the same. Every religion speaks about humanity and brotherhood. My biggest identity is I am a human. I believe in brotherhood, Modi believes in hatred and sowing seeds of discord."
Speaking on the controversy over the comments of BJP leader Sambit Patra about Lord Jagannath, Banerjee said, 'Just imagine, BJP leaders are now saying 'Lord Jagannath is a bhakt of Modi'.
Banerjee also alleged that BJP leaders have crossed all limits' and were saying whatever they want, proclaiming themselves as custodians of Hinduism.
"They have hurt the sentiments of lakhs of devotees," she said.
Banerjee also accused the BJP of hatching a conspiracy to engineer riots in Sandeshkhali.
Alleging that the 'Marxists had burnt to death 19 Ananda Margis during their rule in Kolkata', Banerjee said, "Those who used to work for CPI(M) are now with BJP."
She said the TMC has no truck with CPI(M) in West Bengal but would support the INDIA bloc in forming the government at the Centre after the Lok Sabha polls.