CM Mamata Banerjee tells WB police not to allow fundamentalists' meetings

Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee is believed to have asked senior police officials on Monday not to allow any fundamentalist organisations to hold meetings or rallies in the state. Banerjee's order came during a meeting at the state secretariat Nabanna, where police officials of the rank of Additional Director General to Deputy Inspector General were present. The Police Superintendents of various districts attended the deliberations through video conference from their own offices.

Mamata cautioned police to intensify monitoring social & digital media

Sources said the Chief Minister cautioned the police to intensify monitoring of social and digital media, which are being used to spread anti-government propaganda through "fake news" and "half-truths". Though the Chief Minister did not mention any party, according to some police officers, her obvious target was Asaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). Banerjee and other Trinamool leaders had recently lashed out at the AIMIM, again without naming it, calling it "an agent of the BJP" and warning minorities of "extremists among them."

READ | Owaisi fires stormy reply to Mamata Banerjee; slams Bengal's minority HDI indicators

Mamata hits out at Owaisi

In November, Mamata Banerjee made a striking remark stating that leaders coming from Hyderabad with money bags and claiming to be sympathisers of Muslims are the "biggest allies of BJP". She criticised Asaduddin Owaisi and other AIMIM party leaders saying they cannot protect and fight for the cause of Muslims. Calling them as "agents of BJP", Banerjee advised the community not to trust the visitors from outside.

READ | Owaisi retaliates to Mamata Banerjee's jibe, says she 'succumbed to majoritarianism'

Owaisi's fiery response

Slamming Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee's "biggest allies of BJP" jibe, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi claimed that Banerjee may have succumbed to majoritarianism and hence is fixated with him. Citing the latest lynching due to suspected cow theft, he asked the West Bengal CM to do her job and fight the brazen growth of Hindutva in Bengal. He added that she was falsely equating mobs and those resisting them. With Banerjee eyeing Muslim votes in the 2021 assembly polls, the presence of the AIMIM in the state election could heavily jeopardise her objective by dividing the votes from the minority community.

READ | Mamata Banerjee lashes out at Owaisi and AIMIM, calls them BJP's allies and agents

READ | Owaisi scalds Mamata in point-by-point rebuttal; mirrors extremist jibe

(With inputs from agencies)