West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has shot off a warning to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over protests and rallies linked to the Kolkata doctor rape case. A 31-year-old trainee doctor of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital was allegedly gangraped and murdered inside the seminar hall of the facility in the early hours of August 9, triggering massive protests across the country.
A recent protest rally to ‘Nabanna Abhijan’, which houses State Secretariat of the West Bengal government, in Kolkata turned violent where protesters and security forces clashed. Police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the swelling crowd.
A day later, Mamata Banerjee claimed that PM Narendra Modi was using his party, the BJP, to “cause fire in Bengal” over the rape and murder of the trainee doctor, while warning him that “if you burn Bengal, other states including Assam, North-East, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Delhi too shall burn and your chair will be toppled.”
Speaking at a public function in Kolkata, Mamata Banerjee said, “Some people think this is Bangladesh. I love Bangladesh; they speak like us and share our culture. But remember, Bangladesh is a separate country, and India is a separate country. Modi Babu is using his party to cause fire here."
“If you burn Bengal, Assam, North-East, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Delhi too shall burn! We will topple your chair,” she said, trigerring sharp responses from chief ministers of the BJP-ruled states and senior leaders.
Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sharma hit back at Mamata Banerjee saying, “Didi, how dare you threaten Assam? Don't show us red eyes. Don't even try to burn India with your politics of failure. It does not suit you to speak divisive language.”
Assam Minister Pijush Hazarika condemned ‘if Bengal burns so will Assam’ remarks, saying Mamata Banerjee cannot “bully us.”
“She can't bully, she can't threaten us. She can't control law and order in her state and is threatening us. It will not happen in Assam, I am assuring you. I would like to request Mamata Banerjee, she is a very senior leader and a long-time CM, she should know how to speak in public. I seriously condemn it,” he said.
BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi alleged that Mamata Banerjee “straight away threatened doctors” with her statement.
