A day after a Sikh IPS officer hit out at a group of protesting BJP leaders over being called a “Khalistani” by them, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday criticised the opposition party and said there were attempts to "defame Bengal" but the government would "fight them unitedly". The Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief made the remarks during a programme organised to mark 'Bhasha Divas' at Kolkata's Deshapriya Park. In a veiled attack at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the chief minister said, "What was the fault of the Sikh officer doing his duty? Is there no Punjab regiment in the armed forces? If a Punjabi officer wears a turban, will you call him Khalistani? Will you call a Muslim officer Pakistani? One or two people are defaming Bengal. I can only tell them to stay well in the coming days." "The beauty of Bengal is that we respect all languages. But, some people are trying to defame Bengali culture and impose other things. We will fight unitedly against it," Banerjee added. A row escalated Tuesday after 2016-batch IPS officer Jaspreet Singh claimed that a group of protesting Bengal BJP leaders and workers, led by Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, had called him "Khalistani'. The incident occurred when a police contingent stopped the BJP leaders from visiting unrest-hit Sandeshkhali, at Dhamakhali in North 24 Parganas district. The BJP, however, rejected the allegation, with Adhikari saying no one in the party used the word “Khalistani” and that they respected the Sikh community. The CM also slammed the Centre for allegedly deactivating Aadhaar registrations of people in the state and said her government was able to stop the “conspiracy”. "This is Bengal. We were able to stop the conspiracy to cancel Aadhaar registrations. They had plans to implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in this state. First, they introduced Aadhaar cards and then started cancelling it. Once it is cancelled, you will be labelled a foreigner and sent to a detention camp. Then, you will have to prove that you are a citizen of this country. They started deactivating Aadhaar cards of the people from the Matua community. All these are political plays, but I do not believe in them." The CM has accused the BJP-led Centre of “intentionally cancelling” people’s Aadhaar registrations “to deprive them of social schemes’ benefits”. On Monday, the chief minister had launched a web portal for people to register their complaints about Aadhaar deactivation, and assured them that they would not be deprived of benefits of government welfare schemes.
