Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday opposed the bandh called by Left parties and BJP on April 30 and warned that the administration will take strong action against those participating in the shutdown.
“In Bengal our stand is clear that there will be no bandh, no strike. We are against bandh and strike. Administration will take strong action against those who will go for bandh. We won’t let them stop the growth of Bengal,” Banerjee told reporters here.
The West Bengal unit of BJP on Monday called a 12-hour statewide bandh on April 30, a day after the Left Front gave a similar call on that day to protest “terror and violence” by the ruling Trinamool Congress in the recently-concluded civic elections.
“After seeing today’s civic poll results they should withdraw the bandh. We have got more than two-third majority in Kolkata Municipal Corporation, while villages and suburban areas are also with us. We are with the people. There will be no bandh,” she stressed.
Banerjee said trade unions had called a transport strike against the central government and asked “why suddenly a bandh has been called against us.”
“The CPI(M) and BJP have become one and are now complementing and supplementing each other in Bengal,” she charged.
Slamming the BJP for pursing the “politics of opportunism”, Banerjee said, “The BJP at the Centre is saying that bandh or strike kills the work culture. And here they are calling strikes. This shows their political opportunism.”
Banerjee said on April 30, lakhs of students will observe “Nirmal Bangla Abhiyan” for cleaner Bengal and UNICEF and World Bank (representatives) would be there.
The Chief Minister said it was a pre-scheduled programme and “one lakh students will participate in the programme in each district on that day”.
“If something happened, will CPI(M) and BJP take the responsibility?” she asked. She urged the people to keep everything open on April 30 and said an IPL cricket match was also scheduled here on that day.
“Bengal is not run by the word of CPI(M) and BJP,” she said, adding the TMC would counter the bandh peacefully.(PTI)
