NEW DELHI -- The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday alleged that the communal card would no longer help the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the upcoming polls, adding that Malda incident will backfire on the Mamata Banerjee government.
Minister of State for Minority Affairs and BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi expressed his disappointment over the district administration's move not to allow the proposed public meeting of Union Road, Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari in Malda on 18 January.
"The TMC Government in West Bengal feels that they would benefit from the Malda incident, but this won't happen," Naqvi told ANI.
"Malda ki malai unki Rajnitik dhulai Karegi (Malda incident will backfire on them). They want to win the elections on grounds of politics of communalism. The communal experiment that they undertook to win the elections will not work this time as the age-old formula has now expired," he added.
Three BJP MPs and Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI (M) leader Mohammed Salim were stopped by the local police from visiting the violence-hit areas of Malda district in West Bengal.
Violence broke out in Kaliachawk last week when some Muslim groups called a meeting to protest certain remarks allegedly made by a Hindu leader in Uttar Pradesh about the Prophet. The BSF vehicles were set on fire when the security forces tried to intervene.
Several vehicles on the national highway were set on fire by the angry protestors, who also attacked the Kaliachawk Police Station.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that the incident was not that of communal violence, to which the BJP reacted strongly and accused her of trying to play vote-bank politics.
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