BJP slams Bengal CM Mamata after party worker arrested distributing Jai Shree Ram masks

BJP national secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya slammed the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC govt after an individual was arrested for allegedly distributing masks with 'Jai Shree Ram' printed on it. Sharing a video of the person being apprehended by the police, Kailash Vijayvargiya demanded to know if distributing masks bearing the religious slogan was a crime in West Bengal. In the video, the police can be seen detaining a saffron-clad person from the front of a shop after which he is forced into the police vehicle. 

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BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya also shared the video of the same incident and revealed that the arrested man was a BJP worker. Malviya alleged that the BJP worker was arrested in Serampore by the Hooghly police for wearing and distributing masks with Jai Shri Ram written on them. He further accused the West Bengal police of acting under the direct orders of CM Mamata Banerjee citing that the TMC chief was the Home Minister of the state. 

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JP Nadda slams Mamata Banerjee

Speaking exclusively to Republic TV on Tuesday, BJP president JP Nadda lashed out at West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee of fueling the insider-outsider divide. Even as Nadda flagged off BJP's 'Parivartan Yatra' from Tarapith and Jhargram, Banerjee alleged that the national party was ferrying 5-star buses filled with "outsiders" to interact with the poor in the state. Defending the frequent visits of BJP's national leadership, the Rajya Sabha MP claimed that only his party was protecting the culture of West Bengal. In a dig at the ruling TMC, he affirmed that extortion, dictatorship and appeasement is not the "culture" of West Bengal. 

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BJP's focus on West Bengal

After BJP won 18 out of 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in the 2019 General Election, it intensified efforts to make major inroads in the WB Assembly polls due in April-May this year. Both Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have exuded confidence in BJP winning more than 200 seats in the 294-member WB Assembly. In a big boost to the party, ex-MLAs Suvendu Adhikari, Silbhadra Dutta, Tapasi Mondal, Ashoke Dinda, Sudip Mukherjee, Saikat Panja, Dipali Biswas, Sukra Munda, Shyamapda Mukherjee, Biswajit Kundu and Banasri Maity and TMC MP Sunil Mondal joined BJP in presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah at a rally in Midnapore on December 19, 2020. In another setback for the Mamata Banerjee-led party 5 former TMC leaders- Rajib Banerjee, Prabir Ghosal, Baishali Dalmiya, Rathin Chakraborty and Rudranil Ghosh switched allegiance to BJP on January 30. 

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