press club of india, Indian Tehalka News
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was absent from Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) rally organised in protest against the demolition of Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992 and to uphold communal harmony here on Sunday.
The Chief Minister’s absence from the rally, where she mainly targeted the BJP in the previous years, assumes significance in view of her departure for Delhi on Monday to attend the wedding of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely’s daughter. Her absence from the march, largely organised by various minority units of the TMC, is also significant as it comes a few moths ahead of the Assembly elections next year.
Confirming that Ms. Banerjee was scheduled to address the rally, a senior leader of TMC’s minority wing toldThe Hindu, “She might have had some important engagements and was hence unable to attend the public meting.”
The Opposition parties, meanwhile, claimed that the Chief Minister’s absence was an attempt to “rejuvenate her ties with the BJP.” They also pointed out that her non-appearance came days after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) grilled former State president of TMC’s students’ wing Shankudeb Panda in connection with the Saradha scam.
“The Chief Minister’s absence from her party’s ‘Communal Harmony’ rally clearly shows her bonhomie with Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Polit Bureau member Md. Salim told The Hindu.
Communist Party of India (CPI) State Secretary Prabodh Panda accused Ms. Banerjee of “double standards” and said that the “secular-minded people” would see though her pretension. “She makes tall claims about safeguarding communal harmony in Bengal but actually is hand in glove with the BJP,” Mr.Panda said.
From: The Hindu