The Bharatiya Janata Party’s West Bengal unit chief Dilip Ghosh has said those damaging property in the state will be shot and killed “like the same way in Uttar Pradesh”.
The senior leader also criticised chief minister Mamata Banerjee “for not opening fire and ordering lathicharge” on those destroying railway property and public transport during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests in the state in December last year.
The Indian Railways have said they lost property worth Rs 90 crore, with Eastern Railways—mostly spread across West Bengal—alone accounting for 80% of those losses pegged at Rs 72.19 crore during the country-wide protests in the past 10 days.
“Is it the father’s property of those who are setting public property on fire? How can they destroy government property built on taxpayers’ money!” Ghosh said during a public meeting in Nadia district, according to news agency PTI.
The BJP leader said those involved in arson and damaging public property will be shot “like the same way in Uttar Pradesh”, according to the news agency.
Ghosh also said that the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Karnataka “did the right thing by opening fire on these anti-national elements”.
“They will come here, enjoy all the facilities and destroy the country’s property. Is it their zamindari?” he asked.
Ghosh also called for identifying those “sabotaging the interests” of Hindu Bengalis as he claimed that there are two crore “Muslim infiltrators” in the country.
“One crore alone is in West Bengal and Mamata Banerjee is trying to protect them,” he alleged.
Banerjee has staunchly criticised CAA, which fast-tracks the process of granting of Indian citizenship to religious minorities from neighbouring Muslim-majority countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
The chief minister has led protests against the amended law and while Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in the state’s capital over the weekend, she even attended a demonstration against CAA by the TMC’s students’ wing
She reiterated her party Trinamool Congress’ stand that the state government will not implement the new citizenship law or the proposed National Register for Citizens (NRC) in the state.
More than 20 have died in protest-related violence across the country since the legislation was passed by Parliament in December last year.