TMC fires ‘pol tourism' salvo, asks where's Bengal's money
1
2
Kolkata: Saying that
PM Narendra Modi
's "political statements" were "undesirable",
TMC
on Wednesday added: "On terrorism we are with Centre, but we will respond to political canards strongly."
"These are frog-in-the-well type of political statements which is completely out of sync with TMC's resolute stand against terrorism which is being carried beyond borders by party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee," party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said.
"Has PM Modi been to Pahalgam, or those bordering villages (in Poonch, Uri and Rajouri) where people have been killed? TMC netas went there. Forget J&K, has the PM ever been to Manipur? North Bengal is flooded with tourists now... it's that time of the year. Another tourist... a political one... will be there tomorrow. And we strongly believe he will come empty-handed," Ghosh said.
He went on to say: "TMC, led by CM Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee, has repeatedly expressed its complete support to Centre on the issue of terrorism.
We did not rake up other issues at this critical juncture. But that doesn't mean that we cannot. A BJP minister's son in Gujarat has been caught with fake 100-day-work job cards. In Alipurduar, where the PM is to speak, Centre has denied MGNREGA and Awas dues to people.
"
The party also ticked off north Bengal development minister Udayan Guha's statement demanding an end to the "sindoor business". Guha had earlier in the day said without naming anyone, "Some people earlier were in the tea business.
Now some of them are in the sindoor business. Earlier they used to sell hot tea, now hot sindoor is flowing in their veins. They are running to north Bengal's Alipurduar to sell this sindoor.
But I want to say this... do not poison people's minds like this. They are trying to poison people... and divide people." Ghosh said, "The party does not endorse such statements. On the issue of fight against terrorism, we are with Centre."
In Delhi, Trinamool's Rajya Sabha deputy speaker Sagarika Ghose attacked BJP for trying to politicise
Operation Sindoor
. "The political effort by BJP to politicise Operation Sindoor is deplorable. It is the bravery of our armed forces which we are saluting. For BJP to try to politicise this is highly unacceptable. It is the politics of spectacle, it is the politics of drama, and it is the politics of histrionics," she said.
"We do not believe that the sacrifice and bravery of our armed forces should be politicised in this way. Even the PM is engaging in the most theatrical type of politics over Operation Sindoor," she added.
In a separate statement, TMC dubbed PM Modi's visit as "the first pre-election migratory trip before the 2026 assembly polls" and sought answers to its long-standing query — 'where is Bengal's money?'
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