Mamata accuses BJP of being 'anti-Bengalis', asks if hilsa from B'desh be branded as "infiltrators"

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today accused the BJP of being "anti-Bengalis" and wrly asked the saffron party if hilsa fish, Jamdani saree, sandesh and mishti doi, which are originally from Bangladesh, would be branded as "infiltrators or refugees".

Banerjee made the remarks as she escalated her attack on the Centre over the exclusion of 40 lakh people in the draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam.

Asserting that these 40 lakh people are "very much Indians", she questioned the criteria on which they have been excluded.

Banerjee said even she would not be able to produce the birth certificate of her parents if the government asks for it.

 

"Do not know my parents' birth dates. I only know the dates of their death. I would not be able to provide any documents for their date of birth but there should be a clear system about such cases...you cannot blame the layman," she told reporters at her chamber in the state assembly.

Banerjee has been relentlessly attacking the BJP government at the Centre over the NRC which has excluded names of over 40 lakh citizens in Assam in the draft for want of necessary documents.

Taking a swipe at the BJP, she asked whether hilsa fish, Jamdani saree, sandesh and mishti doi, which are originally from Bangladesh, would be branded as "infiltrators or refugees". Sandesh and mishti doi are famous Bengali sweets.

"What is going on in the country is injustice. The BJP with their extremist ideology is trying to create division among the people. I think they are playing the politics of revenge among the countrymen. We are not for this kind of politics," she said.

She accused the BJP of being "anti-Bengalis" and "anti-West Bengal".

"They (the BJP) must not forget that speaking Bengali is not a crime. It is the fifth most spoken language in the world. What is BJP's problem with (West) Bengal. Are they scared of the intellect of the Bengalis, their culture. They must not forget that (West) Bengal is the cultural mecca of the country," she said.

The TMC chief said "the culture practised by them does not have any respect for people speaking Hindi, Bengali, Maratha and the South Indian (languages)".