Extending an olive branch to the minorities of the State, West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party president Samik Bhattacharya on Saturday said that Muslims are the highest number of victims of political violence during the regime of the Trinamool Congress.
“Muslims are the ones dying and Muslims are the ones killing. The number of Muslims who are killed in West Bengal is not the same as the number of Muslims killed in Uttar Pradesh. This is not the picture of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat. How many Muslims have been killed in Gujarat in the past 15 years or in Uttar Pradesh, nowhere close to those who died in West Bengal,” the BJP leader said, pointing at high numbers of incidents of political violence in the State.
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Mr. Bhattacharya said that in several areas of the State, the BJP cannot put its candidates or even raise their flags, yet there is factional feud resulting in killing of the minorities.
Admitting that Muslims in West Bengal do not vote for the BJP, the BJP president said that the question needs to be put to members of the community as to what the Trinamool Congress has done for Muslims in the State. Mr. Bhattacharya, however, also added that those who think that they can come to power only with the support of 28 % electorate (Muslims comprise 27 % of electorate) are also mistaken.
