Srinagar/Kolkata: Lending support to Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee's charge that the only thing left to be deployed in Bengal for elections were naval warships and Rafale fighter jets, political leaders including former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray have also questioned the massive deployment of central forces and bureaucrats in the state.
Farooq Abdullah questions trust in Bengalis
National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday criticized the Election Commission for deploying a large contingent of central forces and bureaucrats in West Bengal. He questioned whether Bengalis are not being trusted.
Speaking to PTI, Abdullah said, "If you want a strong India, Bengalis have the right to choose their leadership without being coerced towards any other direction." He added that the language being used against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was "unparliamentary and not befitting the nation."
Abdullah further remarked, "The way forces have been removed even from Jammu and Kashmir and sent, saying that they want a peaceful election...What for? Is the Bengali not trusted? Is he not part of the nation? I pity the EC in the way it has handled the situation."
Aaditya Thackeray slams Election Commission
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray posted on X, expressing strong disapproval of the central forces deployment. He wrote, "Bengal's pride is at odds with the might of the greed to win an election. Bengal's citizens have been harassed, subject to disenfranchisement in millions, in a country that was once proudly a democracy. The compromised EC has tried to scare Bengalis, holding them at gunpoint, to make a party win."
Thackeray added, "Moving central forces into Bengal, in millions to try and scare Bengal, redeploying them from where they were posted to protect our country and ensuring peace in troubled areas. Why is Bengal being treated like a state that has been invaded?"
Thackeray warns of democratic erosion
In his post, Thackeray also said, "The conduct of this election pretty much proves that Indian democracy is virtually finished, it is an institutional effort to capture a state through fear, hatred. Misusing institutions, central agencies, central forces to capture a state. Hope Bengal gives a fitting answer to this greed and anti-India and anti-Bengal threat. This isn't about one lady who faces this, this is about Bengal, its pride and the ideals of India."
