West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has demanded a Supreme Court-monitored judicial inquiry into the Delhi riots that have claimed nearly 50 lives, left over 200 injured and property worth hundreds of crores damaged. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson also alleged that television channels were splashing the coronavirus outbreak in a bid to cover up the violence in the capital.
Addressing a public meeting in Malda on Wednesday, the TMC chief said, “In Bengal, for trivial issues, they (the Bharatiya Janata Party) demand a CBI inquiry. Why not in this case? We want a judicial inquiry under SC supervision in this case (the Delhi riots).”
The Bengal CM called the violence a “planned genocide”, likening it to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. “This is nothing but the Gujarat model. They are claiming 40-50 people died but no one knows the actual figures,” she said.
Hitting out at the BJP for being non-apologetic over the Delhi riots, she said, “There are some national channels who are screaming corona, corona to cover up the Delhi riots. I would like to tell them, people were burnt alive in Delhi. It was a planned genocide and instead of being apologetic they are raising ‘goli maaro’ slogans. Just imagine the kind of hatred they have towards people.”
Hinting at possible legal action for alleged misquoting by the media, Banerjee on Wednesday clarified that she never said that all Bangladeshis who have been casting their votes are Indian citizens.
During a rally at Buniadpur in South Dinajpur district, she said, “I would like to tell those who misquoted me that my party records all my speeches. I didn’t mean what has been reported in the media (on Bangladeshis). I actually meant that those who came to India during 1947 (Partition) and 1971 (Bangladesh liberation war) from Bangladesh are Indian citizens as per the agreement. There are people who misquoted me. I would like to tell them that there are laws to take care of such things. Law will take its own course.”
Without naming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the chief minister took a dig at him over the issue of India’s revised citizenship rules. “One of my party leaders told me that an RTI plea was filed to find out the citizenship proof of a senior BJP leader. You know what reply he (the person who filed the RTI) received? ‘He is a citizen of India by birth in terms of Section 3 of The Citizenship Act, 1955 and as such the question of his having a citizenship certificate which is for citizenship by registration does not arise.’ I would like to ask why there is no question of him having a citizenship certificate and why it is must for common people?” she said.
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