‘Acting PM’ should take care of border, not divide people: Mamata in Murshidabad

Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday asked India’s “acting-Prime Minister” to take care of the country’s international borders, instead of dividing people, without specifying whom she was referring to.

“Don’t play dirty and nasty politics. I am the last person to tolerate this. I am not talking about the Prime Minister, but the ‘acting-Prime Minister’. Who is the ‘acting Prime Minister’ of this country? I don’t know. BJP can reply to this question,” she said.

The chief minister, who was speaking to media persons in Murshidabad where communal clashes erupted in April following protests over the Waqf (Amendment) Act, also referred to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as a heavy-loaded virus which always creates communal tensions.

“Instead of taking care of communal riots and trying to create nuisance, take care of the borders. Try to be honest, sincere and reasonable. When you are in the chair, you can’t divide the people,” she said.

This comes days after Banerjee, while speaking at a meeting of religious leaders in Kolkata, attacked Union home minister Amit Shah and the BJP over the communal riots in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district. She had even accused Shah of doing maximum damage to India and requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to control him.

In the April 16 meeting in Kolkata, Banerjee had said that Shah would never become the Prime Minister. “What will you do when [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi leaves [his post]? You will have to crawl.”

This is for the first time that the chief minister was visiting the violence-torn areas in Murshidabad district where communal-riots on April 11 and 12 claimed three lives, including a father-son duo, who were hacked to death by a mob at Jafrabad in Samserganj.

“It is crystal clear by now, who is responsible for the riots. The state police, which went into hiding when riots were taking place, became hyperactive to hide facts. They even tried to stop the families from approaching the Calcutta high court. Banerjee is doing what she does best. Putting the blame on others,” said Rahul Sinha, senior BJP leader in the state.

The state government had announced compensation of ₹10 lakhs for the families of each of the three deceased persons. The families of Haragobindo Das and his son Chandam Das refused to accept the state’s compensation. Later they accepted the compensation provided by the BJP.

“I would have gone to the house of the victims. But BJP has shifted them secretly. Why did you shift the families secretly? Isn’t this kidnapping?” she said.

The two families were shifted to a house in Salt Lake near Kolkata 48 hours before the chief minister’s visit. On Monday, the two families moved the Calcutta high court demanding justice.

“We have no faith in the chief minister and the state police. We want a CBI probe and a BSF camp to be set up in the village. The state police came searching for us claiming that they had received a complaint that we have been kidnapped. We came to Kolkata on our own will,” Parul Das, wife of Haragobindo Das, told the media.

Banerjee said that the communal riots were planned and triggered by outsiders who had spread misinformation in the name of religion to take political advantage.

“I won’t blame any community. Some outsiders had come, who in the guise of religious leaders, had spread misinformation in the name of religion to take political advantage. There are two to three people who are creating the trouble. They are so-called religious leaders. BJP would be able to shed light on their source of funds,” she added.

Without naming any person, Banerjee referred to a Hindu monk adding that over the past few days she has been collecting information on the masterminds behind the riots and how they had planned it.

“There is a Hindu monk in a sevashram who instigates people in Beldanga, Suti and Dhuliyan. I am fully versed about him. When protests over the Waqf (Amendment) Act were going on, he switched off lights in some areas. He can’t do this. It is a criminal offence. If anything happens, it is captured on CCTV. What did you want to hide? He gets central protection,” she said.

Of the nine Padma Shri awardees from West Bengal in 2025, Kartick Maharaj, a Bharat Sevashram Sangha monk from Murshidabad district, was virtually an unknown figure till May 2024 when chief minister Banerjee publicly accused him of helping the BJP in the then ongoing Lok Sabha polls and drew flak from Modi.

The BJP, however, lashed out at Banerjee, saying that she was completely responsible for the riots in Murshidabad.

“Poor families in Murshidabad have lost their livelihoods because of the incitement of the chief minister and the inactive state police. I have given shelter to the families of Haragobindo Das and Chandan Das in a rented apartment in Salt Lake. I would thank the two families for moving the Calcutta high court and demanding a CBI probe. The two families have now taken shelter in Salt Lake. A family member of Haragibindo Das was forced by the police to lodge a missing diary with the police that the family members were kidnapped,” Suvendu Adhikari, BJP legislator and leader of the opposition in the state legislative assembly told the media.