A fatwa has been issued against Bharatiya Janata Party’s state president Dilip Ghosh on Monday for his statements against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, ANI reported. Maulana Noor-ur Rahman Barkati, the imam of Kolkata’s Tipu Sultan Mosque said, “Where does he get such audacity to make filthy comments against our beloved chief minister?”, after he issued the fatwa against Ghosh for his “filthy comments” about Banerjee.

“I issued the fatwa, which says he should be pelted with stones and then kicked out of Bengal. He does not deserve to stay in Bengal,” he said at a press conference along with Trinamool Congress MP Idris Ali.

Ghosh, however, dismissed the fatwa, saying, “Is this Bangladesh or Pakistan that he can issue a fatwa against me? He can issue a fatwa against TMC, they will listen to him, but not the BJP. It seems that Barkati no longer wishes to stay in Bengal or India.”

Separately, an FIR was also filed against Ghosh by a BJP youth wing leader in Jhargram for allegedly threatening him at an event.

On Sunday, the BJP state chief had said his party workers could have dragged Banerjee away by her hair for criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi on demonetisation in Delhi, if they wanted to. “When Mamata [Banerjee] was doing her theatrics in Delhi, we could have dragged her away by her hair if we wanted to. Our police is there, but we didn’t do it,” Ghosh said. Criticising the Centre, Banerjee had tweeted, “The most corrupt people are talking about removing corruption”.

Banerjee has been vocal about her opposition to the “draconian decision” to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, which Modi had said was made to crack down on black money and corruption.