CM Mamata Banerjee raises central agency issues in her Eid address

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee attacked the Centre during her address on the occasion of the Eid festival in Kolkata on Thursday, 11 April.

“This year the election is unique in the sense that before the polls, the Union government is unleashing the central agencies like ED, CBI and now NIA. Instead of doing that, it would have been better had the Union government made a huge prison, where everything could be housed. Can the Union government send 23 crore people behind bars? But come what may we will face such things like Royal Bengal Tigers,” the chief minister said while addressing a gathering at Red Road in central Kolkata at the end of a mass Eid prayer there.

She also said that the BJP is trying to enforce the National Register of Citizens (NRC), Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the country.

“If NRC is the head, CAA is the abdomen and UCC is the tail. We do not want hate speeches and division of people in the name of NRC, CAA and UCC. Our only aim is the unity of all religions,” she said.

Her comments come just a day after Union home minister Amit Shah while addressing an election rally at Balurghat on Wednesday, said that "however Mamata Banerjee might oppose it, CAA will be implemented in the country at any cost".

Addressing the gathering at Red Road, the chief minister made a subtle appeal for not dividing the anti-BJP votes in West Bengal. “Remember, in West Bengal only Trinamool Congress is fighting against BJP. So in Bengal do not vote for anybody else. I will see to it later on what happens with the Opposition I.N.D.I.A. bloc at the national level. But right now are the only ones in West Bengal who are opposing the BJP,” she said.