BJP takes dig at Mamata Banerjee for 'enjoyment' trip to flood-hit area, mocks police for ‘overseeing’ TMC flags

BJP also alleged that police were not present during the rescue work in the landslide-affected region, where at least 32 people lost their lives since October 4.

Kolkata: In a jibe at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is slated to visit the flood and landslide-hit north Bengal early next week, senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday claimed that she will be visiting the hills for "relaxation and enjoyment."

Sharing a video of policemen walking along a road, Adhikari in an X post also mocked that security personnel were supervising whether TMC party flags have been properly put up along the route of the CM's convoy in Siliguri on the way to 'Uttar Kanya', the secretariat in the north Bengal city.

He also alleged that police were not present during the rescue work in the landslide-affected region, where at least 32 people lost their lives since October 4.

In the post written in Bengali and replete with sarcasm, the BJP leader claimed that the CM "had been busy dancing indifferently at the Durga Puja Carnival when the people of North Bengal were facing a difficult time because of cloudbursts and landslides. Now, she will go on a quick trip to the hills for relaxation and enjoyment." Banerjee is scheduled to visit the disaster-hit regions in the Darjeeling hills again on October 13. She had been there for four days since October 5, a day after the puja carnival - a parade of award-winning Durga idols - was held in Kolkata.

“Her police force could not be found in the field during or the day after the natural disaster, yet the very same personnel are now busy overseeing whether the Trinamool flags have been properly installed to welcome her," Adhikari said in the post.

In an attached video clip, policemen were seen walking along a road, and TMC flags were put up on its two sides.

Accusing the state police of working "in a partisan manner," he alleged that the police personnel have become ruling party cadres.

"While the NDRF and army personnel came to the rescue of the affected people, the police force was conspicuously missing. They have failed to show any commitment to the people and only attended VVIPs like the CM," the BJP leader claimed.

Responding to the allegations, Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said Banerjee rushed to north Bengal promptly after the rains and supervised the relief and rescue operations, which were accomplished by the administration and law-enforcing authorities expeditiously.

Leaders like Adhkari will only play politics with the plight of people and heap insults on the CM, Ghosh claimed.