West Bengal CM indirectly accuses ECI of shielding BJP's poll code violations

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday, 4 April, indirectly accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of ignoring the instances of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) violation by the BJP.

Addressing an election rally at Jalpaiguri in North Bengal, the chief minister said, "The BJP’s ‘one nation, one political party’ policy will never be successful in a democratic country like India. The BJP and the ECI seem to be working on an understanding. That is why the BJP is not adhering to the MCC guidelines. The BJP is also resurrecting the CAA and NRC issues just before the elections."

CM Banerjee also said that she won't allow the implementation of NRC (National Register of Citizens) or CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) in West Bengal, as both are interrelated.

“Detention camps will follow CAA and NRC, hence I will not allow their implementation in Bengal,” the chief minister said.

She also refuted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent statement that he is considering legal options so that the money seized by the central agencies in different cases of money laundering in West Bengal can be returned to those who lost them.

“Nothing of that sort will happen. The money seized by the Enforcement Directorate was supposed to be distributed among the poor. But in reality, the seized money has gone to BJP's kitty. The task of the central agencies is to seize money, which subsequently fills the BJP’s kitty,” she said.

The chief minister also accused the BJP and the Union government of conspiring to interfere in the personal lives of the people of the country by attempting to introduce the Uniform Civil Code.

“Once the UCC is introduced, they will even dictate who should marry whom,” the chief minister claimed.