NEW DELHI: A day after the election commission issued a show-cause notice to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on communal grounds, she took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi during her rally in Damjur on Thursday.
The TMC chief hit out at the PM and questioned how many complaints filed against Narendra Modi for doing Hindu-Muslim every day.
“It hardly matters even if ten show cause notices are issued against me. I am telling everyone to vote unitedly, there will no division. How many complaints have been filed against Narendra Modi? He does Hindu-Muslim every day,” Mamata Banerjee said.
“How many complaints have been registered against those people who called Nandigram‘s Muslims Pakistanis? Aren’t they ashamed? They can’t do anything against me. I am with Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians as well as tribals,” she added.
The EC on Wednesday directed Mamata to submit a written clarification explaining her open demand for votes on communal grounds for her party Trinamool Congress in the ongoing Assembly elections in the state.
In its order, the poll panel asked Banerjee to submit her explanation within 48 hours of receipt of the notice, failing which the “commission shall take a decision without further reference to you”.
The commission’s action came after BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi complained to the election body alleging that Banerjee — the Trinamool candidate from Nandigram — had on April 3 appealed to the Muslim voters not to let their votes get split among different political parties, while delivering a speech in Tarkeshwar in Hooghly district.
The BJP alleged that she openly demanded votes on communal grounds for her party.
(With inputs from agencies)