Anurag Thakur slams TMC for outsider barb against BJP leaders

Lashing out at the Trinamool Congress (TMC) for dubbing BJP leaders as “outsiders”, BJP leader Anurag Thakur on Monday said if a Union minister was labelled as an “outsider" then people from which places were considered as insiders in West Bengal.

Union Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur, who was in the city to meet BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, wondered whether it was a crime for a Union minister to visit Bengal.

Speaking to reporters at the Kolkata Airport he said West Bengal gifted the country with many stalwarts in various fields and people from all across the country had settled in the state contributing to its development.

“If a Union minister visiting West Bengal is termed as an outsider, then I want to know people from which places are considered as insiders in the state,” said Thakur.

He also asked with what kind of mindset a Union minister was being labelled as an “outsider” by the TMC.

“Do you think that such mentality should be encouraged and allowed to continue or it should be stopped?” Thakur asked.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had labelled BJP leaders as “outsiders” and alleged that the BJP was a “party of outsiders” trying to impose an alien culture on West Bengal.