Kolkata, Oct 5 (PTI) The West Bengal BJP on Sunday slammed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for taking part in the state government-organised ‘Durga Puja Carnival’, amid reports of 20 deaths in the Darjeeling hills following relentless rainfall.
BJP state president and Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya told reporters that Banerjee should have curtailed the scale of celebrations in the wake of the tragedy, and rushed to north Bengal on Sunday itself.
“What she has done shows the step-motherly attitude of her government towards north Bengal. It is akin to the burning of Rome while Emperor Nero was fiddling with violin,” Bhattacharya said.
Demanding immediate deployment of the NDRF and paramilitary forces in all the disaster-hit parts, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said, “The CM is only obsessed with ‘utsav and mela’ (festivals and fairs), turning a deaf ear to the sufferings of people.” At least 20 people, including several children, were killed and scores injured as relentless downpour unleashed massive landslides across the Mirik and Darjeeling hills in West Bengal on Sunday, sweeping away homes, severing road links, isolating villages, and leaving hundreds of tourists stranded, officials said.
“The CM should have gone to Siliguri and monitored the situation with her officials near the disaster spot. As civilians, we cannot go to a landslide-hit belt till the disaster management department issues the green signal… But, she is clapping to drum beats at the carnival and enjoying the spectacle, which is incongruous to the emerging tragic situation from another part of the state,” Adhikari said.
BJP chief whip and Siliguri MLA Shankar Ghosh said “the CM is busy with the carnival, while north Bengal is reeling under excessive rain and landslides”.
Around 116 award-winning Durga Puja committees took part in the carnival, which got underway in the afternoon. The event was first organised by the state government in 2016.
Countering the BJP, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said the carnival had been announced long back, and several dignitaries, including foreign guests, were invited for the event, “which has put Bengal and its Durga Puja on the global map”.
“The chief minister has been continuously monitoring the situation since midnight, and taking every possible step. Once the carnival gets over, she will visit the affected areas on Monday,” Ghosh said.
The opposition is playing politics over the carnival, he alleged.
According to reports compiled by the NDRF and the district administration, fatalities were reported from several locations – Sarsaly, Jasbirgaon, Mirik Basti, Dhar Gaon (Mechi), Nagrakata and Mirik Lake area.
Banerjee has announced compensation for the victims without specifying the amount.
Speaking to a local Bengali news channel earlier, the CM had described the situation in Darjeeling as “grave”.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
