Is waving the national flag a crime in Bengal, asks BJP's Dilip Ghosh

West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh Monday alleged that Trinamool Congress and other parties were opposing "strong action" against Pakistan and questioned whether waving a national flag is a crime in the state.

"When the entire country is demanding that Pakistan should be taught a befitting lesson, the opposition parties and TMC have opposed strong action" Ghosh alleged.

Reacting to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's allegation that BJP-VHP-RSS were trying to foment trouble in the state by using the Pulwama attack, he wondered whether waving a national flag on the street is a crime in Bengal.

"I want to ask the chief minister whether waving a national flag and shouting slogans in favour of 'mother India' is a crime in Bengal," he said.

West Bengal, Ghosh alleged, has become a hub of "anti-national activities" and the TMC government has been unable to stop it.

Ghosh wondered what had stopped the state government from announcing compensation for the CRPF jawans from Bengal, who were killed in the Pulwama attack.

"When people die from consuming spurious liquor, their kin are immediately given Rs 2 lakh as compensation. But when jawans are killed, the Bengal government do not bother to announce any compensation, unlike the other states," he said.

Banerjee, a strident critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Monday questioned the timing of the Pulwama terror attack and asked whether the government wanted to go to war when Lok Sabha elections were round the corner.

She also accused the BJP, the RSS and the VHP of fomenting communal tension in the wake of the terror attack that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF troopers.

The RSS and the VHP termed Banerjee's accusations baseless and said a head of the state should be more cautious about her choice of words.

"The allegations are not only baseless but also a figment of imagination. In such a moment of crisis, a head of the state should be more cautious about her choice of words," RSS state secretary Jishnu Basu told PTI.

VHP state president Sachindranath Singha wondered whether Banerjee's statement was aimed at appeasing a particular community ahead of polls.

"Instead of attacking Pakistan and terrorist organisations, why is she attacking VHP-RSS?" he questioned.

Bablu Santra and Sudip Biswas, who hailed from the state, were among the 40 CRPF jawans who lost their lives in the February 14 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir.