West Bengal chief minister and Trinamul Congress chairperson Miss Mamata Banerjee on Saturday made a scathing attack on the BJP, alleging that the saffron party is paying “someone” money to divide Muslim votes in the state.

While addressing a congregation for Eid namaz on Red Road in the city, the chief minister alleged that the BJP is trying to divide Muslim votes in the state. “Someone gets money from the BJP to divide Muslim votes. I tell them that they don’t have the courage to divide Muslim votes for the BJP. It’s my promise to you here today,” she said.

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“You will see who will get elected and who won’t. Only one year to go for Lok Sabha polls in the country. We want peace in Bengal and not riots. We also don’t want divisions in the country. I am ready to sacrifice my life to protect the country from divisions,” Miss Banerjee said.

The Trinamul Congress chief said: “BJP is a ‘gaddar party’ and I will fight against it and its investigating agencies too. I won’t be cowed down by them. They are changing the Constitution and history of our country also. They have also brought NRC but I won’t allow them to do all these things.” She urged all non-BJP forces to fight together against the saffron party in the next parliamentary polls in 2024. Mr Abhishek Banerjee, Trinamul Congress general secretary, who was also present at the programme attacked BJP for indulging in politics of divisions to divide the country.

Miss Banerjee did not elaborate on who is being given money by the BJP to create divisions in the Muslim vote bank, but political observers feel that the chief minister was targeting the CPI-M, Indian Secular Front (ISF) and the Congress party.

The Trinamul Congress has enjoyed spectacular wins in different elections in Bengal since 2011 when it dethroned the 34 year-old CPI-M-led Left Front government.

But the TMC took a hit in its minority vote bank when the party lost the Sagardighi assembly constituency, which has 68 per cent minority voters, to a CPI-M-backed Congress candidate in the recently held by-election in the seat. Soon after the TMC lost the bypoll, Miss Banerjee was prompted to take several measures like formation of a committee headed by the state library minister Siddiqullah Chowdhury to conduct a survey whether the minority voters are leaning towards CPI-M and Congress ahead of panchayat elections likely to be held in June in the state.

The chief minister herself looks after the minority affairs department, having removed Golam Robbani from the portfolio after the Sagardighi defeat. A senior member of the CPI-M state committee said, “Mamata Banerjee is scared of losing Muslim votes in coming elections in the state. Otherwise, why did she raise the minority vote bank issue in a religious programme?”