Central government equally responsible for violence in Bengal: Mamata Banerjee

KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged on Monday that the Centre and the cadres of the ruling BJP were trying to incite violence in the state and conspiring to bring down her government.

She also said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was trying to throttle her voice as she was the only one in the country to protest against them.

"They (BJP) are spending crores and crores of money to spread fake news through different social networking websites. The central government and (BJP) party cadres are trying to incite violence in West Bengal," Banerjee told reporters at the state secretariat.

She said the Centre also had an equal responsibility as the state governments in case any violence or riot took place in any state.

"If there is any riot or violence in any state, then the central government cannot shrug off its responsibility," she said.

"This (inciting violence in West Bengal) is a planted game. This is their game plan to throttle my voice, because they know that Mamata Banerjee is the only person in the country to raise voice against them.

This conspiracy to bring down our government will not succeed," the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief said, hitting out at the Centre for sending an advisory to her government in the wake of the Sandeskhali killings.

"That's the reason the advisory was sent to the state government. But I will not speak on it because the chief secretary has already given his reply on it," she said.

The Centre expressed "deep concern" on Sunday over the continuing violence in West Bengal, saying the "unabated violence" even after the Lok Sabha polls appeared to be a failure on the part of the state government.

Stating that there were a few "stray post-poll clashes" in the state, the West Bengal government claimed that the situation in the state was "under control" in a letter to the Centre, which issued the advisory after four persons died in incidents of violence between the workers of the TMC and the BJP.

State Chief Secretary Malay Kumar De wrote in the letter that "firm and appropriate actions" were initiated in all cases of violence without any delay.