Daijiworld Media Network - Kolkata

Kolkata, Dec 26: Trinamool Congress (TMC) general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Friday launched a sharp attack on what he termed the country’s “right-wing forces”, accusing them of deliberately poisoning India’s social climate through hate-mongering in the name of religion.

In a post on X, Banerjee shared an archived video clip of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, with then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi seated beside him, stressing the need for those in power to uphold “raj dharma” without discrimination on the basis of birth, caste or creed.

Banerjee’s remarks came on the same day the body of Juel Sheikh, a migrant worker from West Bengal’s Murshidabad district who was lynched in Odisha’s Sambalpur on Wednesday, was brought back to his native village for last rites.

While Odisha police have maintained that the killing was the result of a personal dispute and not a targeted attack, a witness and co-victim of the assault alleged that migrant workers from West Bengal were asked to prove their nationality on suspicion of being Bangladeshi nationals.

“India’s climate is being deliberately poisoned. Right-wing forces, emboldened by power, are openly attacking Dalits, STs and minorities — through fear, lynching, threats and hate, all under the garb of religion,” Banerjee wrote.

He further alleged that when those in power become perpetrators and reward those who protect such violence, “impunity becomes policy”.

“This is not governance; this is moral collapse. These attacks are unconstitutional, illegal and tear apart the very foundation of India — our unity in diversity. Silence today is complicity. History will not forgive this,” the TMC MP said.

In the video clip shared by Banerjee, Vajpayee is heard urging the ruling dispensation to adhere to its moral responsibilities. “I am trying to observe raj dharma. The king and the ruler cannot differentiate between his subjects, either on the basis of their birth, or their caste or creed,” the former prime minister says in the footage.

With West Bengal gearing up for Assembly elections scheduled to be announced early next year, Banerjee has been at the forefront of the TMC’s campaign against the BJP, accusing it of targeting migrant workers from the state — particularly Muslims and Bangla-speaking people — by branding them as “Bangladeshi infiltrators” in BJP-ruled states.