BJP to send 10 lakh 'Jai Shri Ram' post cards to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee

Arjun Singh said that the BJP decided to send post cards to Mamata after police lathicharged some workers of the party on Saturday for chanting "Jai Shri Ram".

KOLKATA: Newly elected BJP MP from Barrackpore in West Bengal, Arjun Singh on Saturday said his party has decided to send 10 lakh post cards with "Jai Shri Ram" written on them to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. "We have decided to send 10 lakh post cards with 'Jai Shri Ram' written on them to the chief minister's residence," Singh said.

It is to be noted that Singh was once a TMC MLA but he defected to the BJP before Lok Sabha election 2019. Singh said that the BJP decided to send post cards to Mamata after police lathicharged some workers of the party on Saturday for chanting "Jai Shri Ram" during a demonstration near a place where TMC leaders were holding a meeting.

Sources said that TMC leaders were holding talks at Kanchrapara in North 24 Parganas district and were finalising their strategies to retake party offices allegedly captured by BJP. Interestingly, Kanchrapara comes under Barrackpore parliamentary constituency. TMC leader and state minister Jyotipriya Mallick said that Arjun Singh and BJP leader Subhrangshu Roy came with a group of BJP workers to incite trouble in the area.

Police sources said that people who were raising "Jai Shree Ram" slogan outside the meeting venue claimed that Mallick and other TMC leaders like Madan Mitra, Tapas Roy and Sujit Bose should be asked to leave because there presence could incite trouble in the area. Mallick dismissed the claims by BJP leaders and slammed BJP for vitiating the atmosphere in West Bengal. "This is unprecedented. We had not seen this culture in Bengal. This is the culture of the BJP," Mallick told PTI. 

Police and Rapid Action Force personnel tried to control the situation through dialogues but the protesters seemed in no mood to relent, forcing the police to resort to lathicharge. Singh, however, rejected the allegation and accused the TMC leaders of misleading the people. "The TMC leaders are talking nonsense. People rejected the TMC and this is their reaction," Singh was quoted as saying by PTI.

The BJP performed exceptionally well in West Bengal in the recently concluded Lok Sabha election, winning 18 out of the total 42 seats at stake in the state. It may be recalled that on Thursday Mamata had got angry at some men who shouted 'Jai Shri Ram' when her motorcade passed through Bhatpara area in Barrackpore.