Kamal Ghorui
KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday countered Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “hisab liya jayega” speech, telling him that such threats do not behove a country’s PM. Banerjee also alleged that a plot was being hatched to murder her. “The PM will have to take responsibility if something happens,” she said during a College Streetto-Esplanade roadshow on Monday, her first after the EC’s announcement of the poll schedule for Bengal, three other states and a UT. “Chun-chun ke hisab liya jayega (Everyone will be held accountable one by one),” PM Modi had told a BJP poll rally at Brigade Parade Ground on Saturday. Banerjee also criticised the EC for its Sunday night order transferring two of Bengal’s top bureaucrats — chief secretary Nandini Chakravorty and home secretary J P Meena — terming its “midnight mayhem” and accusing it of being “anti-women” for transferring out Bengal’s first female chief secretary. “What did you do last night? I got a message at midnight… Have you heard of such a thing happening at midnight,” she asked the crowd after her march to highlight the LPG crisis. “A group is using someone to create havoc. The chief secretary was a Bengali woman. They are anti-women. The rule is to ask the state for a list. We used to send three names and they would select one,” she added. “This is suo motu! It is like a lawless land, like a feudal estate,” she said and offered her own interpretation of PM Modi’s speech, alleging that he had said “they will eliminate (others) one by one”. The CM also accused the EC of being “anti-Hindu” and “anti-Hindi”. “Who was the DGP? It was Peeyush Pandey. He was also dismissed without a word. You are not only knocking out Bengalis but also non-Bengalis. You are looking for those who will work for BJP. But, whoever you send, they will work for us. They will work for the people,” she said, adding that about 50% of those who died because of “SIR-related pressure and anxiety” were Hindus. Banerjee alleged BJP was offering cash to people and police commissioner Supratim Sarkar was removed to enable ferrying of cash into the state.
