Mamata slams BJP, warns of 'civil war'

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday called for a “change” in 2019, even as she pitched for “collective leadership” for the united opposition against the BJP in the next parliamentary elections.

Speaking at an event in New Delhi, the Trinamool Congress supremo slammed the BJP-led government at the Centre for pursuing a “divide and rule policy” and warned that such policies could lead to “bloodbath” and “civil war” in the country. She stepped up her tirade against the BJP, focussing particularly on the issue of four million people – mostly Bengali-speaking Muslims – being left out of the National Register of Citizen (NRC) in Assam.

“India needs a change and that change must come in 2019,” Banerjee said in New Delhi. She was speaking at an event – titled “Love Your Neighbour” – organized by the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI).

The Trinamool Congress chief has been at the forefront of the efforts to bring together opposition parties to take on the ruling BJP in the parliamentary elections in 2019. She, however, refrained from asserting her claim to be the prime ministerial candidate of the united opposition. She rather told journalists that the opposition would be led by “collective leadership” to take on the ruling BJP. She said that the opposition could take a call on the issue of leadership after the BJP would be voted out of power.

“What is going on in Assam? The NRC problem. It is not only about the Bengalis, it is (about the) minorities, it is (about the) Hindus, it is (about the) Bengalis, it is (about the) Biharis. More than 40 lakh people, who voted yesterday for the ruling party, have been made refugees in their own country suddenly,” Banerjee said at the event organized by the CBCI. She was referring to the controversy over the final draft of the NRC that was published in BJP-ruled Assam on Monday, leaving out about 40 lakh people.

“Only to win polls, people cannot be victimised. Don’t you think people whose name are not there on the list (NRC) will lose a part of their identity?” she said.

Banerjee did not name the BJP, but referred to it as a “ruling party”. “India is a secular country,” she said, adding that anyone could not act as a “megalomaniac” and “destroy everything” only because he was in power. “Why should Christians, Muslims, Dalits, tribals be isolated?” She also criticized the BJP-led Government for the growing incidents of lynchings in some parts of the country.

She also lambasted the BJP for maligning Missionaries of Charity over the allegation of child trafficking from a home run by it at Ranchi in Jharkhand. “If any individual commits a crime, why is the Missionaries of Charity being targeted by a particular party?” she said, lauding the Christian missionaries' work for the underprivileged, poor and downtrodden people. She also recalled her personal association with Mother Teresa.

Chief Minister of West Bengal is likely to meet Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday to convey her concern over the situation in neighbouring Assam in the wake of the publication of the final draft of the NRC, leaving out millions of people.