If Matuas aren’t citizens of India, Modi isn’t too: Abhishek
TMC leader says he is ‘Bhumiputra’ of this soil, not an outsider like saffron leaders
THAKURNAGAR (NORTH 24-PARGANAS): Taking a dig at the BJP, Trinamool Youth Congress president and party’s MP Abhishek Banerjee on Thursday said if the Matuas were not citizens of India, then Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also not a citizen of this country. He made the statement while addressing a rally at Thakurnagar — a stronghold of the Matuas — in North 24-Parganas.
“You (Matuas) have voter IDs and ration cards. You have elected people’s representatives from your community. If you are not a citizen of India, then Modi is also not a citizen of this country,” he said while addressing the mammoth rally.
Abhishek also launched a scathing attack on the saffron party for accusing the Mamata Banerjee government of appeasing Muslims and failing to stop infiltration from Bangladesh.
“I am a Bhumiputra of this soil. I am not an outsider like you (the saffron leaders). The voters of Bengal will reject you,” he added.
Coming down heavily on Amit Shah who had initially said NRC for Matuas would start soon and later backtracked by saying that it would begin only after all Indians were inoculated with Covid vaccine, Abhishek said: “It will take nine years to complete the vaccination process. It implies that NRC is scrapped. If this is the situation, then he should speak out the truth and say that NRC and CAA will not be implemented.”
Criticising BJP’s terror tactics, he said: “As the Assembly election is drawing near, it is BJP’s habit to let loose the agencies like CBI, ED and Income Tax department to scare the Opposition leaders. But you cannot force me to bow down before you.”
Calling the BJP's national leaders “migratory leaders,” he said: “You will never find them during a pandemic or a natural calamity. Where were your MPs during the pandemic? Did you see him on the road? You will find the BJP leaders only before the elections and after it is over, they vanish like camphor.”
Abhishek said under BJP's rule the SC, ST and Dalits are the worst-sufferers. “They have no respect for the Dalits. Two hundred people from the Matua community had gone to pour sacred water at the foundation stone laying ceremony of Ram Mandir. None of them was allowed due to their caste. BJP plays caste-based politics,” he alleged, adding that “during the foundation stone laying ceremony not a single SC leader was invited”.
Criticising the renaming of Motera Stadium after Narendra Modi, he said: “It is unfortunate that a stadium has been renamed after a living person and the President was present at the ceremony. Usually, stadiums are named after important people post their demise.”
He said Mamata Banerjee had published her report card and projects like Kanyashree, Rupashree, Sabuj Sathi and Swasthya Sathi have brought enormous benefits to the people of Bengal. “She also constituted the Matua development board. A university will come up in the honour of Harichand Guruchand Thakur,” he added.
“BJP has ruined the states where they are in power and now they are planning to come to Bengal to destroy it,” he maintained and added that the people of Bengal want their own daughter to come to power for the third time.