Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in the state on Sunday took part in a rally in Kolkata protesting the violence and unrest in Murshidabad district and the recent Supreme Court ruling that annulled over 25,000 school staff appointments, leaving over 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff jobless.
Scores of BJP supporters participated in the rally alongwith the party leaders, marching from College Square to Rani Rashmoni, carrying flags, placards and demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The rally was led by Leader of Opposition in state Assembly Suvendu Adhikari, state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar, former state party president Dilip Ghosh and judge-turned-MP Abhijit Gangopadhyay, BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul, and party leader Rahul Singh.
While speaking with mediapersons during the rally, Adhikari said, “Our mega protest rally is for those teachers who lost their jobs because of the fault of our Chief Minister. The courts — be it High Court or Supreme Court — had given this government several opportunities to publish the list of genuine candidates, but just to save the tainted candidates they sacrificed the genuine candidates also. We are always there with the genuine candidates.”
He further said, “If Hindus want to live then all Hindus have to come together. We are seeing that in various parts of our state the way Hindus are being targeted, houses and shops looted, temples demolished… When we protested in the Assembly we were thrown out. In Murshidabad the father-son duo who were murdered, what was their fault… We will fight for the Hindus.”
State president and MP Sukanta Majumdar said, “Who is Sidiqualla to stop Kolkata, we Bengalis are enough to fight such people. We can take a thousand of buses and go to Murshidabad. If required Bengalis can give blood and also take blood.”
Pointing out that “law is for everyone”, BJP MP Locket Chatterjee told mediapersons that “Wakf Bill is not to harm any Muslims.”
“This fight is for the deprived. What is happening in this state? Those who are genuine candidates, they lost their jobs due to corruption, and the tainted candidates are sitting with the genuine candidates and holding meetings. Where is the list of the tainted candidates, where is the OMR sheet. We demand the list be published. See the violence being spread due to Wakf Bill,” she said.
Former state BJP MP Dilip Ghosh said, “Such bad times had never hit Bengal ever. On one side there are those who have lost their jobs and on the other hand there are those who are losing their homes in Murshidabad and coming to Malda. We the Bharatiya Janata Party are standing by the teachers who are genuine and we are standing by the Hindus… The state head has allowed some anti-nationals to come inside our country and spread violence and havoc in Murshidabad, temples, houses and everything burnt down. There is loot going on, BSF has been deployed. If the BSF and CRPF have to control the situation every time then we do not require this government in this state.”