The BJP targeted West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday, accusing her of forcing Trinamool Congress MP Yusuf Pathan to opt out from the diplomatic delegation aimed at ‘exposing Pakistan’ in India’s global outreach. The remarks come hours after Pathan pulled out of the team that will deliver India’s message against terrorism.
The cricketer-turned-politician was included in the delegation led by Janata Dal (United) MP Sanjay Jha that is set to go to Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, and Singapore to convey India’s message on Operation Sindoor.
Trinamool Congress announced that none of its MPs would be a part of the initiative, as the BJP-led Union government did not consult the party before finalising names. The party, however, insisted that it is not boycotting the diplomatic effort.
Reacting sharply, BJP co-incharge for West Bengal Amit Malviya said in a post on X, “West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s decision to force the TMC MP to withdraw from the multi-party delegation is unfortunate.”
“This is a government of India’s delegation, and it should have been kept above partisan politics,” Malviya said, maintaining that Members of Parliament (MPs) are representatives of the people as well.
‘Mamata and her party unwilling to speak out against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism’
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“It sends a subliminal message that Mamata Banerjee and her party are unwilling to speak out against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism,” he charged.
Malviya slammed Banerjee, accusing her of representing the “worst kind of politics”.
“Unfortunately, West Bengal is bearing the brunt of it,” he said, adding, “Let us not forget that a hostile demographic shift is staring the state in the face.”
Speaking to reporters at the Kolkata airport on Monday, Mamata said, “They (Centre) cannot decide the name (of the AITC representative) on their own. If they request the mother party, the party will decide the name. This is customary, and is the system. We are totally with the Centre regarding the foreign policy,” adding that “If they request me to send someone’s name, we will decide it and tell them.”
Mamata said, “Nowadays, they (Centre) don’t inform the mother party, but only the parliamentary party. However, the parliamentary party only works for the Parliament session, it cannot take policy decisions. No requests came to us. If the request comes to us, of course, we can consider it. We are totally in favour of the country’s best interests.”
Earlier in the day, TMC national general secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee, who is Mamata’s nephew, said, “How can the Union government decide on the representative of Trinamool? They should have held discussions to decide which representative a party will send.”
