The Trinamool Congress on Saturday countered Union home minister Amit Shah’s “chargesheet” against the Mamata Banerjee government by terming the 35-page document as a “judgment by a fugitive”.

Addressing reporters shortly after Shah released the BJP’s “chargesheet”, senior Trinamool leaders Mahua Moitra, Bratya Basu and Kirti Azad offered a point-by-point rebuttal.

Trinamool framed a “counter-chargesheet” on key issues such as crime against women, national security lapses, border management, harassment of Bengali-speaking people in BJP-ruled states and the controversial SIR exercise.

Invoking William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, minister Basu said: “The situation that arises when a judge and a criminal sit on the same seat — today’s chargesheet is proof of that.”

MP Moitra said: “When a clown sits on the throne, he does not become a king; rather, the palace turns into a circus.”

In a veiled attack on the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah leadership, Azad said: “India is perhaps the only country where a fugitive has become the home minister and he is a habitual liar.”

The Trinamool leaders alleged that the BJP’s “chargesheet” was politically motivated and aimed at “driving the last nail” into Bengal through divisive strategies such as the SIR exercise. “It will not succeed. That nail will be pulled out. Women’s power will win in Bengal,” Basu added.

Crime against women

“Amit Shah is talking about women’s security, whereas in the BJP-ruled states, UP, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, top the list of most unsafe states for women. Even in Delhi, the national capital where the home ministry is responsible for law and order, more than 13,000 cases of atrocities on women have been reported,” said Moitra.

Lapse in security

In its “counter-chargesheet”, Trinamool flagged what it described as serious lapses in national security under the BJP-led Centre, citing incidents such as terror attacks in Pahalgam and past security breaches like the Red Fort blast to question the Centre’s handling of internal security.

Infiltration

Trinamool also rejected the BJP’s allegations that Bengal had become a “corridor for infiltration”, arguing that border security was the responsibility of the home ministry headed by Shah.

“Why has the Union home ministry failed to identify and deport illegal immigrants? Why has the BJP-controlled Election Commission not released the names of foreign nationals found whose names were found on electoral rolls in Bihar and Bengal?”
asked Basu.

Torture of Bengalis

Basu alleged that the BJP was deliberately blurring the distinction between Bengali citizens and Bangladeshi infiltrators to import an “Assam-style detention camp model” into the state.

“Bengalis are being deprived, labelled as criminals and subjected to harassment in multiple places,” Moitra said, terming Shah’s chargesheet as a blatant lie.

SIR

Trinamool alleged the BJP was attempting to influence the electoral process through mechanisms like the SIR and pre-poll administrative reshuffles. “The SIR exercise has been carried out to disenfranchise voters of a particular community to grab power in Bengal,” Moitra said.