Mamata Banerjee calls Delhi violence ‘genocide’, says won’t tolerate ‘goli maaro’ slogan in Kolkata
The West Bengal chief minister reminded Home Minister Amit Shah that it was because of the Citizenship Amendment Act that so many people had been killed.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday used the word “genocide” to describe last week’s communal violence in Delhi, PTI reported. She reminded Union Home Minister Amit Shah that it was because of the Citizenship Amendment Act that so many citizens had been killed.
Banerjee took credit for the arrests of three Bharatiya Janata Party workers who reportedly chanted an incendiary slogan in Kolkata on Sunday. “In Delhi, BJP leaders who gave provocative slogans have not been arrested, but I got three of the BJP workers arrested last night,” the Trinamool Congress chief said, according to ANI.
“I condemn those who raised ‘goli maaro’ slogan on Kolkata streets,” Banerjee said. “Law will take its own course... This is not Delhi, will not tolerate slogans like ‘goli maaro’ in Kolkata.”
In the past few weeks, the slogan she was referring to – “desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maaro saalon ko”, or “shoot the bloody traitors” – has become a rallying cry for hardline Hindutva supporters as a response to those opposed to the Citizenship Amendment Act. On Sunday afternoon, a group of BJP supporters chanted the slogan while on their way to Amit Shah’s rally in Kolkata. Three of them, identified as workers of the party, were arrested on Sunday night.
Banerjee accused the BJP of trying to implement the “Gujarat model of riots” across the country, including in West Bengal.
The toll in the Delhi violence, which mainly took place between February 23 and February 26, rose to 46 on Monday after four bodies, including three that were found in drains on Sunday, were brought to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.