Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee today censured Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making contradictory statements vis-a-vis the Union home minister on the issue of Citizenship Amended Act (CAA) and NRC. Launching a scathing attack on the Prime Minister at the end of her march at Beliaghata from Bidhan Sarani today, chief minister Banerjee said that the statements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi were “at variance with” what the home minister of the country had told in the parliament regarding the contentions Citizenship Amendment Act -National Register of Citizens ( CAA-NRC) issue.

“The Prime Minister had said that he had not discussed the issue of NRC since 2014 but the home minister of the country had on record in the Parliament said the NRC would be implemented across the country. Thus, the remarks of the Prime minister were highly contradictory. Your statements regarding the issue are in public domain, so are ours. People will decide who said what. The people of the country have already begun to speak their minds out as they gave them a fitting reply in the battle of ballots”, chief minister Banerjee said alluding to the Centre.

Upping the ante further against the BJP-led government at the Centre, she said, “Take Jharkhand as the case in point, which turned out to be among the states that slipped out of the grasp of the BJP lately after a drubbing in Maharashtra. The people of Jharkhand gave them a fitting reply in the battle of democracy. The people’s mandate is something that only matters in a democracy, where duopoly of Modi-Shah weighs nothing, people of Jharkhand had proved that. The BJP’s design to wedge a divide between the people on the basis of religion will come to naught.”

Some people are there who are always in the habit of flaying and cursing the state, chief minister Banerjee said alluding to the Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar. Taking cock- a- snook at the Centre on the law and order problems in the BJP ruled states, the Trinamul Chief said, “The country is burning, especially the BJP-ruled states. Look at UP, Bengaluru, Delhi. All are smouldering by raging anti- CAA-NRC fire. People are getting killed in police firing in UP, Mangalore, where is the rule of Law? A four of member delegation led by former MP and railway minister of the Trinamul Congress Dinesh Trivedi had gone to UP where they were barred from visiting the next of kin of those killed in UP. But here in Kolkata, a leader from Delhi came and staged a demonstration on the streets riding a car. This is called democracy at work”.

The CM also pulled up the Centre for doing nothing for the eminent personalities like Swami Vivekananda, Vidyasagar but adept in desecrating the busts of those great personalities, she said referring to the vandalisation of bust of Eswarchandra Vidyasgar at Calcutta University. Playing her Matua card, the chief minister said that the BJP was trying to mislead the Matuas by spreading canards and misinformation against her by saying that it was her who was blocking the BJP from giving the Matuas recognition as citizens of the country.

The chief minister refuted that it was she who always has championed the cause of the Matuas. It was she who had borne the expenditure of the Baram’s treatment. It was her government which had set up a separate board for the Matua community. College, university had been set up for their upliftment. They are all citizens of the country. It is they who vote during elections and help in forming government.

“We all stand united as t he citizens of the country. Lets fight together to thwart any move to divide the country and Bengal on the basis of religion. NO CAA, NO NRC in Bengal”, she thundered at a rally at Vidhan Sarani and Gandhi Bhavan at Beliaghata, for which she undertook a march to flag issues of anti CAA-NRC in the state.