Women have kitchen tools to fight with if names removed under SIR: Mamata Banerjee

Accusing the Centre of trying to snatch the rights of mothers and sisters in the name of the SIR exercise, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that the women will fight if their names are struck off from the voter list.

Addressing a massive rally in Krishnanagar, Mamata Banerjee said that the women have their kitchen tools and the strength to use them if their names are removed from the voter list under the SIR exercise.

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“They will bring police from Delhi during the election and intimidate mothers and sisters. Mothers and sisters, if your names are struck off, you have the tools, right? The tools you use during cooking. You have strength, right? You won’t let it pass if your names are cut, right? The women will fight in the front, and the men will be behind them,” she said, adding that she wants to see who is more powerful — the women or the BJP.

The Bengal CM alleged that whenever there are elections, the BJP uses money to divide people. “I don’t believe in communalism. I believe in secularism. Whenever the election comes, the BJP tries to use money and bring people from other states to divide people,” she said.

Referring to the recitation of the Bhagavad Gita in Kolkata on Sunday, Banerjee asked what was the need to organise a public event when everybody recites the holy Hindu text at their homes.

“We all recite the Gita at home whenever we need to. Why organise a public meeting? Gods stay in the heart. Those who pray to Allah do so in their hearts. During Ramzan and during Durga Puja, we pray together. Those who are shouting about the Gita, I want to ask them what Lord Krishna said. Dharma means purity, humanity, peace, and not violence, discrimination, and division,” she remarked.

Mamata asserted that if attacked, her party knows how to retaliate. “We know how to stop injustice,” she added.