West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today alleged that certain political parties were trying to portray the violence in Malda district as communal and termed the incident as a "criminal" one.
"The incident in Malda was a crime. It has nothing to do with communal violence. Certain political parties are trying to portray it as a communal violence which is untrue," she said after inaugurating a Hajj house here.
Senior BJP leaders like Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah and Smriti Irani recently accused the Trinamool Congress government in the state of indulging in votebank politics over the Malda incident.
Banerjee said, "West Bengal is a place of pilgrimage of communal harmony. Communities has been living here in peace for generations. We will not tolerate any attempt to create communal tension in our state."
In an obvious reference to the 'Love jihad' campaign by Hindutva groups, she said nowadays even loving someone is dictated by his or her religion.
"If you love someone, nowadays you have to ask about his or her religion. Or else it is treated as a communal agenda. We condemn such attempts," she said.
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Banerjee, however, declined to comment on the Union
Cabinet's decision today to approve the promulgation of an ordinance to make possession of a large number of scrapped banknotes a penal offence, but said "the common people should not suffer".
"Let me first go through the ordinance. I have to see the language. Without seeing it, it is difficult to say anything at this stage," she told reporters.
The Union Cabinet today approved the promulgation of an ordinance to impose a penalty, including a jail term, for possessing scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes beyond a cut-off.
