News Mania Desk / Piyal Chatterjee / 28th October 2024
Actor and BJP leader Mithun Chakraborty’s call for violence in Kolkata on Sunday further exacerbated the already tense political climate in Bengal, which is a battleground between the ruling Trinamool and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party before by-elections to six Assembly seats next month.
Chakraborty, 74, prompted BJP karyakartas to “chop them (up) and bury you in the ground” in reference to a pre-Lok Sabha election statement made by Humayun Kabir of the Trinamool, who was censured by the Election Commission for threatening rival party workers on the basis of religion.
“A leader says there are 70 per cent Muslims and 30 per cent Hindus (and) that he will ‘cut’ and throw them in the Bhagirathi… I thought Chief Minister (Mamata Banerjee) would say something. She didn’t… so now I am saying, we will chop them (up) and bury them in the ground…” he said.
“I am not the Chief Minister… but I am saying this,” the 74-year-old raged, “We will do anything to win the masnad (throne) of Bengal… it will belong to the BJP after the 2026 Assembly election.”
The occasion was attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who had just congratulated the National Award-winning actor on receiving the Dadasaheb Phalke Award on October 8. “I am saying it again and again… we will do anything (to win the 2026 election) … anything. I am saying this with Home Minister Amit Shahji sitting here – we will do anything,” he warned ominously.
Chakraborty, 74, repeated this threat, calling the river “our mother” and declaring, “I say we will cut you up and throw you, not in the Bhagirathi because that is our mother, but we will throw you in the ground.” Chakraborty then slammed the stand and said, “We will do anything… we will do anything”, and accused the Bengal state government of not allowing the Hindu community to cast votes.
At a rally he reportedly said, “You are 30 per cent (of the people here) but we are 70 per cent… if you think you can demolish mosques and Muslims will sit back and relax… (you are wrong). I will leave politics if I don’t drown you people in the Bhagirathi…”
The actor – speaking at a membership drive – then called on BJP supporters to join the party’s karyakartas. “We want those people who will fight… who can stand up and say, ‘Shoot me… let me see how many bullets you have’,” he said, taking a swipe at the Trinamool over multiple incidents of pre- and post-poll violence in the state, “But we don’t want those who join for money.”
Chakraborty then also offered up a second violent threat. “If you cut down one fruit from our trees… we will cut down four of yours,” he said, as Mr Shah continued to look on impassively.
The Trinamool retaliated quickly; a major news channel reported that party General Secretary Jay Prakash Majumdar dismissed Chakraborty as a non-issue. “No one takes him seriously as a political leader… the leader (the Trinamool’s Kabir) whose comment he spoke about was censured (by the Election Commission). But now, in the presence of Amit Shah, Mithun Chakraborty is saying this… will be also be censured now?” Majumdar asked.
