Kolkata/New Delhi, April 12 (IANS): The BJP on Wednesday disowned a youth leader who triggered outrage by offering Rs 11 lakh to anyone who beheads West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
An unperturbed Banerjee said she considers such threats as “blessings”. As the Trinamool Congress and Congress raised the issue angrily in Parliament, demanding action against Yogesh Varshney, the Bharatiya Janata Party distanced itself from the Aligarh-based leader.
BJP national Secretary Rahul Sinha said such comments cannot be condoned. Speaking in Murshidabad, Banerjee said: “I am being abused variously. I consider that as blessings. The more they abuse us, they more we will march forward.“Now we are in Bengal. Slowly we will move on to Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, Delhi, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.”
In the Lok Sabha, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar condemned the remarks.
“The statement ... is completely wrong. We condemn it. Mamata Banerjee is an elected leader and she must be respected,” he said.
Varshney of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha made the statement after police clashed with people taking part in a Hanuman Jayanti rally in West Bengal’s Birbhum district on Tuesday.
“She stands up for Muslims. Aren’t Hindus human beings? If there was some humanity, then there wouldn’t be so much discrimination against the Hindus,” he said after apparently seeing a video of police assaulting the rallyists to disperse them. Varshney’s offer went viral on social media, triggering widespread condemnation. Describing the comment as a provocation against a popular Chief Minister and an attack on women, opposition leaders denounced Varshney.
Trinamool Secretary General Partha Chatterjee said people like Varshney had no idea what stuff Banerjee was made of.
“She was thrown out of the Kolkata police headquarters and dragged out of Writers Building (Secretariat) during CPI-M regime. Police dragged her by the hair from Singur during the land movement (in 2006) but nothing could stop her,” Chatterjee said.
Eminent Bengali writer Nabanita Deb Sen said: “I feel so annoyed. Where are we living? Fatwas are being issued, death threats are being given. Why shouldn’t he be arrested and punished?”
Thespian Bivas Chakraborty added: “Politics is going into the hands of mentally disbalanced and insane people. In such a situation, nobody is secure.”
In Parliament, Trinamool leader Saugata Roy sought action against Varshney.
“I urge the government to take all possible action against the leader who has threatened a popular and down-to-earth Chief Minister,” he said.
Supporting him, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said action should be taken against the BJP leader.
