Mamata terms Delhi violence 'a planned genocide'

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has criticised the Centre for violence in Northeast Delhi in which 46 people have been killed. Speaking at an event organised by her party, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Monday, Banerjee also claimed that she had been told that the violence in Delhi was "a planned genocide".

"I have been told by many persons that it's a planned genocide later shown as a riot. Delhi police is under the Centre. There were Delhi police, the CRPF and the CISF. But nothing was done. And BJP is so shameless that they have not even sought an apology," she said while addressing a gathering of party workers at Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata on Monday.

Banerjee also asked her party to raise funds to help Delhi riot victims and observed a minute's silence praying for the soul of those killed in the riots. Party workers have been asked to take our rallies condemning BJP's Delhi unit.

She also condemned the 'goli maaro...' slogans raised during the visit of Union Home Minister Amit Shah to Kolkata on Sunday.

"The slogan is incendiary, provocative and illegal. All who raised it would be penalised. It's Kolkata, not Delhi. It's Bengal. If we spare a single person, others would be encouraged," the chief minister said.

"Those who talk about Bengal's law and order, tell me why the BJP leader who created the provocations (before the Delhi clashes) have not been booked and arrested. They did it here yesterday and we have picked them up today," she said.

"Who is a traitor? People will decide. Who are you to decide?" she asked.

She added that a few persons were already arrested and the police were looking out for the others. She also asked party workers to help identify from media footage others involved in raising the slogan. "Identify and inform the police but do not take the law in your own hands," she said.

Kolkata police on Monday morning arrested three BJP supporters in connection with the incident of raising the Goli Maaro slogans and booked them under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, include non-bailable sections.

The TMC had hit back at Shah after he stung the state government on a range of issues and called for its toppling in the 2021 Assembly elections. "Rather than coming and preaching #Bengal @AmitShah you should have explained and apologised for failing to save more than 50 innocent lives in #DelhiViolence right under your nose. Mr Shah, Bengal is better off without bigotry and hatred that BJP is trying to spread," Abhishek Banerjee, the chief minister's nephew and the TMC youth wing chief, wrote on Twitter.

The political temperature in Bengal is rising ahead of the April-May civic polls, considered a bellwether for the 2021 assembly polls in the state.

Shah on Sunday claimed that the BJP, which has emerged as Bengal's second-most-powerful party by bagging 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats, against 22 won by TMC, will form the next government in the state with a two-thirds majority.

Over one lakh TMC workers would fan out across the state as part of the campaign and make people understand how Banerjee is key for the development and growth of West Bengal and preserving its communal harmony, the party said.

The first phase of the programme will be for 75 days.