Kharagpur, West Bengal, Feb 6 (IANS): Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of "unending corruption and appeasement" and claimed she was the second leader to divide Bengal after Lord Curzon, the then Viceroy of British India.
Curzon announced the decision split Bengal in 1905, which separated the largely Muslim eastern areas from the largely Hindu western areas, leading to mass migration and genocide.
"After Lord Curzon, Mamata Banerjee is the second leader who has divided Bengal through her appeasement politics. She is welcoming infiltrators and beating up our own brothers and sisters. Bengal will not tolerate this," Chouhan said at a public rally here.
The BJP Vice-President, who came to the rally by road after the Bengal government denied permission for his chopper to land, ridiculed Banerjee, saying she is spending more time in trying to stop the BJP rallies in the state than running her government.
"People in Bengal cannot be happy till Mamata didi remains the chief minister. She is now doing everything instead of running the government. She is busy impeding the meetings of BJP," Chouhan said.
"Mamata didi -- how many leaders will you stop? How long would you be able to stop them? You did not allow my helicopter to land, I reached here by car. If you stop our cars, we will come to Bengal by foot," he said.
Chouhan alleged that Bengal has become a pinnacle of corruption and wrongdoings, where there are attempts to throttle peoples' voices and attack those who support the saffron outfit.
"The bloodshed by our brave activists will not go in vain. The entire nation stands in solidarity with the oppressed people in Bengal. Mamata di, we will not let your autocracy and hooliganism prevail here," he said.
Launching an attack on Banerjee over her recent dharna (sit-in), following a stand-off between the CBI and the Kolkata Police, he said the nation wants to know why Banerjee is trying to save an IPS officer from the CBI probe in chit fund cases.
"I haven't seen such a chief minister who sits on dharna to save a police officer. The entire nation wants to know why do you want to save Rajeev Kumar so badly? If he would have been interrogated, whose corruption would have come out in the open?" Chouhan asked.
"Mamata is not concerned about the poor who lost their hard earned money in the chit fund scams. She is only concerned about the police officer," he remarked.