Mumbai, Apr 21 (PTI) Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday alleged that the BJP-led Centre has deployed over two lakh CRPF personnel in West Bengal to ensure the defeat of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the assembly polls.
Elections to the 294-member West Bengal assembly are scheduled to be held in two phases – on April 23 and 29, while the counting of votes will take place on May 4.
Addressing the general body meeting of the Bharatiya Kamgar Sena, the workers’ wing of his party here, Thackeray said the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is conducting raids on those close to Banerjee.
He was referring to the probe by the central agency against I-PAC, a firm which provides political consultancy to political outfits including the TMC.
Taking aim at Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Thackeray said he is going to poll-bound West Bengal (for campaigning) when crime against women and instances of drug peddling were on the rise in his own state.
“Mamata Banerjee is fighting like a tigress (in West Bengal)…To defeat her, over two lakh CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) personnel have been deployed in West Bengal. How will people vote fearlessly if security forces are deployed in every nook and corner of the state?” the former Maharashtra CM sought to know.
When Manipur was burning due to ethnic violence, only 30,000 CRPF personnel were deployed in that state, he said.
On the women’s reservation issue, Thackeray cited a speech given by former Union minister late Arun Jaitley, who had said that the parliamentary committee had put a freeze on delimitation till 2026.
According to the Sena (UBT) chief, Jaitley cited National Population Policy as one of the reasons for putting the freeze on delimitation.
“But is there a bill to bring the population under control? There are some states that implemented family planning more effectively,” Thackeray said.
The former Maharashtra CM said Jaitley had stated that had the freeze not been there, then it would have been an injustice to those states who have worked on family planning injustice.
He further claimed that the country is heading towards anarchy.
Thackeray also hit out at the Centre over the Pahalgam attack, in which terrorists killed 26 persons, mostly tourists, on April 22 last year. He said nobody knows from where the terrorists came to India and how they left.
