KOLKATA: Referring to recent comments by Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khwaja Asif, who allegedly threatened to strike Kolkata city, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his failure to address the issue. She questioned whether the lives of Bengalis were insignificant to him and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Addressing an election rally, Mamata Banerjee said, “Pakistan’s Defence Minister has openly threatened to strike Kolkata. And what has Narendra Modi said? Nothing.”
She added that Asif’s statement had sent shockwaves across the country. Despite the seriousness of the situation, she claimed, Modi remained silent during his rally in Cooch Behar and did not acknowledge the threat to a major Indian city.
“Is this how little the lives of Bengalis mean to him?” Banerjee asked, accusing the BJP of neglecting the state’s security. “Do we not count as a state of the Indian Union?” she further questioned.
She also accused the BJP of treating Bengal merely as an electoral battleground — engaging with the state during elections but neglecting it in times of perceived danger. “Is Bengal only useful for securing votes during elections and then abandoned?” she asked.