BJP danga-oriented party, only does Hindu-Muslim dance: Mamata Banerjee at India Today Conclave

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today dismissed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as a challenger to the ruling (TMC) Trinamool Congress government.

"They only shout," Mamata Banerjee said when asked if BJP has grown as the principal challenger to the TMC in West Bengal.

"Let the BJP shout along with their bike vahini, but they cannot do anything in Bengal," the Trinamool Congress chief said at the India Today Conclave East 2017 .

Confident of the Trinamool Congress' popularity in the state, the West Bengal Chief Minister said, "Bengal will never accept divide and rule".

"BJP does a Hindu-Muslim dance all the time. That's their only strategy," the West Bengal chief minister said.

Mamata accused the BJP of running a "sponsored propaganda machinery" and called it a "danga (riot)-oriented political party".

"BJP cannot compete with me politically so they try to set off riots in West Bengal," Mamata said, adding that the saffron party is nowhere in Bengal, but "only on media and social media, which they have bought".

Mamata's comments come at a time when the BJP, led by Amit Shah, have been campaigning aggressively in West Bengal ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

During her nearly 1-hour session at the India Today Conclave, the Trinamool Congress chief accused the Centre of discrimination against the East.

"In one state (Maharashtra) you have 47 ports, in another (West Bengal) you have only two," she said, adding that successive governments at the Centre have given importance to developing the western parts of the country.

Mamata said that no such thing as "cooperative federalism" exists, and accused the BJP-led Centre of "telling industries not to go to Bengal".

Here is the full coverage of India Today Conclave East 2017.

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