KOLKATA, Oct 28: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee charged the BJP with spreading fear over the National Register of Citizens on Tuesday, hours after the alleged suicide of a man near Kolkata, who reportedly left behind a note blaming the NRC for his death.57-year-old Pradeep Kar was found hanging at his residence on Tuesday morning.A suicide note was found in which NRC was mentioned, Sharma said, adding that preliminary investigations revealed the person was in depression after announcement of the SIR of the electoral rolls on Monday.The BJP asserted that the cause of the suicide must be determined only by the investigating agencies, and not through political rhetoric Condemning what she described as the BJP’s “politics of fear and division,” the CM alleged that the party’s campaign around the NRC has created panic among people.
“It shakes me to the very core to imagine how, for years, BJP has tormented innocent citizens with the threat of NRC, spreading lies, stoking panic and weaponising insecurity for votes,” Banerjee said in the post.
She charged the BJP with turning “constitutional democracy into a theatre of fear”, and said the “tragic death” was the result of “venomous propaganda”.
“They have turned Constitutional democracy into a theatre of fear, where people are made to doubt their own right to exist. This tragic death is the direct consequence of BJP’s venomous propaganda. Those who sit in Delhi and preach nationalism have pushed ordinary Indians to such despair that they are dying in their own land, fearing they will be declared ‘FOREIGNERS’,” she added.Demanding that the Centre put an end to what she called a “heartless game,” Banerjee reiterated that Bengal would “never allow NRC” and would protect the dignity and rights of its people.“Our soil belongs to Maa, Mati, Manush (mother, land and people), not to those who thrive on hate. Let the Delhi Zamindars hear this loud and clear: Bengal will resist, Bengal will protect and Bengal will prevail,” she added.The IPS officer said the deceased had dinner on Monday night and then went to his room to sleep.
The deceased’s elder sister claimed that her brother had been frightened about the implementation of the NRC.Responding sharply to the chief minister’s comments, Amit Malviya accused Banerjee of “resorting to lies and theatrics” over the incident.Malviya alleged that it was the TMC and not the BJP, that “weaponised fear” by exploiting the anxieties of poor Hindu refugees who fled religious persecution and sought shelter in India. (PTI)
