Hate politics of the BJP will not be allowed, says Mamata Banerjee

Banerjee during a rally ahead of the WB Assembly polls 2021, at Bolpur in Birbhum district of West Bengal, on Tuesday. Pic/PTI

Iterating that the BJP is a "party of outsiders", West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday asserted that the land of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore will never allow hate politics to triumph over secularism.

Banerjee, during a rally in Bolpur, branded Visva-Bharati Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty as a "BJP man", and said that he plans to destroy the rich heritage of the hallowed institution by "importing divisive and communal politics inside its campus". "Those who don't respect Mahatma Gandhi and other icons of the country are talking of building 'Sonar Bangla' (Golden Bengal). Rabindranath Tagore has already created 'Sonar Bangla' several decades ago, all we need to do is to protect the place from the communal onslaught of the BJP," Banerjee said during her address, following a four-kilometre roadshow here.

Hitting out at Visva-Bharati VC, the feisty TMC boss said "attempts to destroy Tagore's cultural abode have to be resisted with all might".

BJP alleges attack by TMC supporters

The BJP on Tuesday claimed that its supporters were attacked by TMC activists when they were on their way to attend newly inducted leader Suvendu Adhikari's roadshow at Nandigram in Bengal's Purba Medinipur district. Police, however, said that a scuffle broke out between locals and a group of people but the situation was soon brought under control.