Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya on Wednesday accused the Trinamool Congress government of indulging in divisive politics to garner support in north Bengal, a region where the saffron party gained considerable ground in the past few years.
Bhattacharya, who was on a three-day trip to the region after assuming the office of the state BJP chief, said Trinamool had always divided communities to draw votes.
“Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool leaders have alleged that the BJP wants north Bengal to be severed and that the BJP is a proponent of the separate Gorkhaland state. But what has her government done for the development of the region? It is Trinamool, and not the BJP, that has been playing the divisive politics here,” he told a news conference.
Ever since the BJP has started building its base in north Bengal, the Trinamool leadership has time and again accused the saffron camp of playing the polarisation card and divisive politics. Top leaders of Trinamool, including Mamata and the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, have accused the BJP of stoking the sentiments of different communities to draw votes.
On Wednesday, Bhattacharya turned the tables on Trinamool. “Mamata Banerjee has constituted different boards to create rift among communities. Her party leaders have attempted to create differences between Rajbanshis and non-Rajbanshis. Trinamool’s politics is far from the concept of inclusiveness. It is only interested in corruption and has not spared north Bengal,” said the BJP leader.
Bhattacharya was quick to refer to the recent protests that had rocked the hills and also the tea belt in the foothills over the state’s notification that a portion of unused land on tea estates can be used for tourism and ancillary activities.
“The state government has miserably failed to help in the growth of four Ts — tea, timber, tourism, and table tennis — for which north Bengal is known. Trinamool leaders have indulged in the smuggling of timber and the rich flora of this region. Instead of working for the development of the tea industry, it has paved the way for the destruction of tea estates in the name of tourism,” said Bhattacharya, a Rajya Sabha member.
Trinamool leaders, however, brushed aside the BJP’s charges.
“People know which party stokes the issue of the separate state ahead of the polls. Also, the central government has simply made empty promises to the hill people, to the tea population, and other communities, unlike the state government,” said Vedabrata Dutta, Trinamool's spokesperson in Darjeeling (plains) organisational district.
“Mamata Banerjee has kept her commitments and has carried out a slew of developments in the region. Such strategies of the BJP will not work this time,” he added.