Centre trying to bulldoze Twitter, my govt as it failed to control them: Mamata

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over its allegations of post-poll violence in the state and the Centre’s efforts “to control” Twitter. She dismissed allegations of political violence in the state as BJP’s gimmicks while saying the Centre was trying to bulldoze Twitter after failing to control it.

The government and Twitter have faced off over the new guidelines that require digital companies to change how they regulate content, appoint nodal officers for compliance and grievance redressal, and adopt features such as traceability of messages and voluntary user verification. There have also been disagreements over the government’s orders to Twitter to take down posts. Twitter has also raised concerns regarding the safety of its employees in the country and police intimidation.

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Banerjee said the Centre cannot also control her and hence also wants to bulldoze her government and the Trinamool Congress (TMC)...”

“It is unfortunate. One day there will be an end to this.”

The BJP and TMC have been continued to target each other since Banerjee swept back to power last month after a bitter campaign during the assembly polls in March and April.

West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and BJP leaders have been attacking TMC over the alleged post-poll violence.

Banerjee insisted there is no political violence. “It is BJP’s gimmick. There is no atmosphere of violence that they (BJP) are trying to create. We do not support violence and if there are one or two sporadic incidents, strong action is taken,” said Banerjee. “These are all pre-planned incidents. BJP is not ashamed of the humiliating defeat and is sending central agencies. This is their habit. Soon after the election results were declared and law and order were still with the ECI (Election Commission of India), there were some incidents. But not all were political and there were some incidents of personal enmity,” she added.

BJP leaders insisted even though incidents of post-poll violence have come down after the Calcutta high court’s intervention, but they are still continuing. “There is hardly any law and order in West Bengal. After the court intervened, the scale of post-poll violence may have reduced but it is still going on. Some of our workers, who abandoned their houses and fled, are now returning. But still, a few thousand workers have not been able to return home because of violence,” said state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh.

Dhankhar, who is on a three-day visit to Delhi, was scheduled to meet Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday evening.

On June 15, Suvendu Adhikari, BJP leader and leader of the opposition, met Dhankhar before the governor slammed the state administration over the alleged post-poll violence. He also wrote to Banerjee the same day saying the state was witnessing the worst form of post-poll violence after Independence.

Banerjee was dismissive about Dhankhar’s meetings, saying he may meet anybody. “You can scold a child to stop him...He (Dhankhar) is their (BJP) man.”

Ghosh questioned what the harm is if as governor, he meets the President, Prime Minister and Union home minister. “Why he met them and what was discussed is up to them. It is his duty to report to the Centre. TMC is suffering from a mental problem which aggravates whenever they see the governor,” said Ghosh.

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