Abhishek Banerjee’s ‘virus’ jibe draws ire in Garo Hills

TURA, July 5: All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee’s recent statement against the National People’s Party (NPP) on Tuesday triggered protests in West Garo Hills and South West Garo Hills.
While in West Garo Hills, the protest was organised in Tura, in South West Garo Hills, the protest to condemn Banerjee’s statement was organised in Mahendraganj. Interestingly, the organisers of the protests were not identified even though it is believed to have been led by NPP party members.
In Tura, the protesters marched through most of the town, demanding an apology from Banerjee.
Maintaining that as an outsider he is not welcome in the state, the protesters said that calling people of Meghalaya ‘virus’ was hurtful to them.
Interestingly, in an effort to get their message across, some placards were written in Bengali language in Tura town.
The protest ended at the Tura Bazaar this afternoon.
In Mahendraganj, it was Banerjee’s statement on local governance that drew the locals’ goat, who accused him of trying to divide the people on the lines of tribes.
“We are unhappy that he is trying to divide us when we have been living here as one since ages. Calling us a virus is just not done. We will not accept anything less than an apology from him,” said one of the protesters in Mahendraganj.
It may be mentioned that Banerjee had recently called NPP a virus and AITC a vaccine. “If Corona is the virus, then Covishield is the vaccine. Similarly, if NPP is the virus, then AITC is the vaccine,” he had said.