 "Bengal couple with whom Shah ate food, forced to join TMC: BJP")
The BJP on Wednesday claimed that a couple who had a lunch with party President Amit Shah during his visit to Naxalbari in April, were abducted and forcibly made to join the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal.
Raju Mahali and his wife Geeta had hogged media limelight when Shah ate food at the tribal couple's village home in West Bengal.
"The tragedy is that for many years West Bengal is a victim of fear and violence under the Left parties. Now, it is a victim of fear and reckless violence of the TMC," Union Law Minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
Prasad accused the West Bengal Police of not registering a complaint in the matter.
"The Siliguri unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party tried to file a case but the police refused," he said.
"They (Raju and Geeta) proclaimed themselves as TMC workers in the morning (of Wednesday). And the most inportant thing is there was police in front of their home when they spoke," the minister said.
"Can she (Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee) stop the march of democratic ideas by use of force?" he asked.