West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying a person's political views couldn't be ascertained by their clothes. PM Modi had Sunday said in Jharkhand that the Congress was instigating protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act, and those “spreading the fire (aag lagaane vaale)” could be “identified by their clothes (kapdon se hi pata chal jaata hai)”. Banerjee on Tuesday said the Prime Minister was talking about clothes when the country was burning. "The country is burning and they are talking about clothes..Miscreants and commoners cannot be differentiated on the basis of attire or food habits. Clothes do not determine a person's political views," she said at a rally in Kolkata, her second in two days. Protests against the amended citizenship law have turned violent in many places, including Bengal, where agitators have set fire to trains, railway stations, and buses. Banerjee said police would take action against all those involved in violence, and asked people not to fall for provocation. "We have arrested more than 600 people (for creating trouble). The arson and vandalism could be the handiwork of the BJP also. Violence will not be tolerated; police will take action against the culprits. These violent protests are undermining the very purpose of the protest," she said. Blaming the Modi government for the country's worsening economic situation, she claimed that it has failed to provide people's basic needs like "roti, kapda aur makaan" but is planning to declare legal citizens as illegal immigrants. On Monday, Banerjee had said the Centre would have to implement the CAA and the National Register of Citizens over her "dead body" in Bengal. “As long as I am alive, I will never implement the citizenship law or NRC in the state. You can dismiss my government or put me in jail, but I will never implement this black law. We will continue to protest democratically till this law is scrapped. If they want to implement it in West Bengal, they will have to do it over my dead body," she had said. (With PTI inputs)
