CPM to hold rallies, conventions to mark Babri demolition anniv

On Thursday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had addressed lakhs of Muslims at a rally organised on Thursday by the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind — the first Chief Minister to do so — and had said that intolerance of any kind would not be tolerated in West Bengal.

“She (Mamata) said nobody, including the Centre, had the right to dictate who can eat what. But what about her? Does she have the right to dictate who must read which newspaper? So, it is okay if she does it but not if it is someone else,” Bose said.

On Mamata’s statement at the rally that she was ready to go to jail, he said: “She should stop talking and start working. She had said that she had set up a fund of Rs 500 crore to return chit fund money to the public. Where is this money? We demand that the government release a white paper on what has happened to this money.”

“You think that only (former state minister) Madan Mitra was involved in the scam because he is in jail? This is a much bigger scam… there needs to be a thorough investigation by the CBI, which hasn’t happened so far. The CBI is simply dragging it’s feet in the matter,” Bose added.

The CPM leader said at a meeting, senior party leaders had discussed a number of issues, including the recent deaths at tea gardens in North Bengal. “Look at Redbank tea garden, which had shut down and has now been taken over by the state government. What has changed there since the government took over? Absolutely nothing. There have been starvation deaths there even after the takeover,” Bose claimed.