On Wednesday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the Central government of deliberately generating panic around the coronavirus to divert attention from the recent Delhi riots. Speaking at rallies in Buniyadpur and Malda in north Bengal, the Trinamool Congress chief called for a judicial inquiry into the Delhi riots by a sitting Supreme Court judge, expressing concern that “over 700 people” might be missing after the violence in the National Capital.
Mamata asserted that the true toll of the Delhi riots is unknown, and she accused the authorities of using television channels to sensationalize the coronavirus to distract the public. She claimed that those who perished in Delhi did not succumb to the virus or any ailment but were brutally burnt and killed. Mamata, addressing a rally in Buniadpur in South Dinajpur, described the situation in Delhi as dire, with numerous bodies, displaced individuals, and bodies found in drains. She reiterated her characterization of the Delhi riots as “state-sponsored, planned genocide,” urging everyone to label it as such and not merely as a riot.
Calling for a judicial probe led by a Supreme Court judge, Mamata criticized the BJP, highlighting the disparity in their response to incidents in Bengal and Delhi. She cautioned against the use of inflammatory slogans like “goli maaro” on the streets of Bengal, noting arrests made by Kolkata police ahead of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s recent rally. Taking a dig at Shah’s assertion that BJP would topple the TMC government in the 2021 Assembly polls, Mamata suggested that he should focus on managing Delhi first.
Additionally, Mamata clarified that she was misquoted by some media outlets regarding her statements on the citizenship issue of Bangladeshi people settled in India. She emphasized that she was referring to those who arrived during the Partition and the 1971 Liberation War, having been granted citizenship through international treaties, and not suggesting that all Bangladeshi migrants are Indian citizens.
