The BJP Saturday lauded the Trinamool Congress government's move to withdraw a bill naming a township here after former chief minister Jyoti Basu. But the party demanded it be named after Jan Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mookerjee.
West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rahul Sinha said naming the township after the "architect of Bengal's destruction" (Basu) would have been grave injustice to the people.
"I congratulate Trinamool for this. I demand the township be named after Mookerjee who is a great son of the soil and renowned for his secular credentials," Sinha said while addressing a rally here.
According to Sinha, during Basu's rule as chief minister (1977-2000), the state went from bad to worse.
The Trinamool regime of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday withdrew in the state assembly the New Town, Kolkata Development Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2011 passed by the erstwhile Left Front regime that had included a proposal to name the New Town area as Jyoti Basu Nagar.
While Governor M.K. Narayanan disapproved the dropping of the bill, the Left has been demanding introduction a new legislation restoring the name.
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Sinha castigated the Banerjee regime over a number of issues and accused it of playing vote-bank politics and indulging in minority appeasement.
Attacking the Trinamool over the Saradha scam, Sinha said the BJP will meet the governor besides undertaking statewide movement seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the state's biggest financial scandal.
Sinha said the party will be approaching the Calcutta High Court Monday seeking compensation for Shiladitya Chowdhury - a marginal farmer arrested earlier after Banerjee publicly called him a Maoist.
Addressing a rally in the Maoist-affected Belpahari area in West Midnapore district, Banerjee last year had branded Chowdhury a "Maoist" and had him arrested after he dared to ask about her government's policies towards farmers.
The state's rights panel later recommended the state government to pay a compensation of Rs.2 lakh to Chowdhury for his "loss of dignity and social status".
"Despite the Human Rights Commission's recommendation, this government has refused to pay the compensation, so we will approach the court Monday seeking legal recourse," said Sinha, flanked by Chowdhury on the stage.