Shah’s Kolkata roadshow was a conspiracy, says Mamata

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee yesterday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah’s recentroad show in Kolkata was a “criminal conspiracy” to defame the state government.

In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, Banerjee also requested him to complete the final phase of polling today peacefully.

The Trinamool Congress chief alleged that the permission for Shah’s roadshow was given by “withdrawing Section 144 (prohibitory orders) in the area by the new commissioner of police appointed by the Election Commission”.

Violence broke out during Shah’s roadshow in Kolkata on Wednesday and the statue of Bengali polymath Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was vandalised inside a college, named after the social reformer.

“The roadshow was itself a deliberate, intentional and a criminal conspiracy to vandalise the culture and heritage of Kolkata and West Bengal and also to defame the West Bengal government and its people,” the letter said.

Banerjee also alleged that West Bengal has seen “a number of illegal, unconstitutional and biased decisions during the election process because of undue influence of the central government and ruling party at the Centre”.

“As a result, not only the state administration and its officers but also the common people of the state have been harassed and attacked in various manner,” the letter said.

Banerjee urged the commission to ensure that the election is completed “peacefully, impartially, and without any undue interference of the central government and without any intervention by the ruling party at the Centre”.

Banerjee also requested Arora to protect “democratic institutions

and federal structure of the country and extend due respect to the opposition parties”.

She also alleged that the commission had appointed two retired government officers - Ajay V Nayak and Vivek Dube - as special observers “which is not in accordance with the law”.

“These two special observers had shown partisan attitude and always complied with the instructions given by the central government and the ruling party at the Centre time and again. All these issues were brought to the notice of the Election Commission of India but no justice has been done,” she said in the letter.

Meanwhile, Banerjee’s nephew and the Trinamool’s Diamond Harbour constituency candidate Abhishek Banerjee yesterday sent a defamation notice to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Referring to Modi’s May 15 rally which took place in the constituency, the legal notice, served by his lawyer, said: “...the malice with which you chose to invoke certain unverified, sensationalist and patently inaccurate information, ostensibly at the behest of your party members, even while knowing such information to be incorrect, has compelled my client to address you vide this letter.”

“Your speech, punctuated by false, malicious, and defamatory content, was an embodiment of political calculation and mischievous intent.”

The Diamond Harbour incumbent MP has sought an “unconditional apology” within 36 hours from the prime minister.

In New Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal alleged that the BJP wanted to finish him and the positive politics he had started.

“Why does the BJP want to kill me? What is my fault? I am only building schools, hospital for the people. For first time, there is a positive politics in the country about schools and hospitals. The BJP wants to end this. But I will continue the fight till my last breath,” the Delhi chief minister tweeted.