BJP & RSS trying to whip up communal issue before poll: TMC

Kolkata, Jan 11: Trinamool Congress on Monday accused BJP of trying to whip up communal issue ahead of the assembly election in West Bengal.

"The situation in Kaliachak, Malda was tense, but never got out of hand. The police handled the issue tactfully. Thankfully, no deaths occurred, no injuries and 10 people have been arrested," TMC chief national spokesperson Derek O'Brien said in a statement here.

Dubbing it as a 'criminal issue', he alleged that "BJP/RSS, as is their strategy, tried to turn it into communal issue. They did this by trending hashtags on Twitter, sharing year-old photographs and posting irresponsible tweets with the help of its social media army."

O'Brien said that BJP was trying for the last one week to present "what I call CIN 100, Communally Insensitive Narrative, 100 days before the state goes to polls. They follow the same tactic in all election-bound states".

He said, "We now hear that this morning the (BJP) leaders were now stating this was opium/fake currency issue. This is what we have been saying all along. This is a sensitive issue in a border town and not a communal issue."

TMC, he said, believed in working for people irrespective of community, caste or creed.

"Our track record of development for the last five years, across sectors, is there for all to see. Our focus is on development."

A 'fact finding' team of BJP MPs was today stopped by the Malda district administration from visiting Kaliachak area that witnessed violence on January 3.

PTI