Rath yatras are not meant to kill: Mamata Banerjee

by Abbas Adil

Targeting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for its proposed rath yatras in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said rath yatras are not meant to “kill people or incite riots”.

“ISKCON conducts rath yatra here, it is Sri Jagannath’s rath yatra, not a yatra to kill people. A rath yatra is not meant to kill people, otherwise it is a danga (riot) yatra,” Ms. Banerjee said at an event at Sunderbans.

Ms. Banerjee’s comments come at a time when the courts are to decide on the BJP’s petition to allow three rath yatras in the State. The BJP is calling it the Ganatantra Bachao (Save Democracy) Yatra, which will traverse all 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in the State.

The West Bengal government has already refused permission to the yatras on ground that it can cause communal flare-ups.

State won’t share data

Meanwhile, during her recent visit to South 24 Parganas, Ms. Banerjee directed officials of the State government departments to stop sharing data with the Centre. “From now on, we should have our own portals. And we will stop sharing data with the Centre,” Ms. Banerjee said, adding that in the name of data collection, the Centre was trying to control the State.

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