Burdwan blast: Wrong to blame an entire religion for a crime, says Mamata

Kolkata: Under fire from BJP over her government’s handling of the Burdwan blast, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said that it was wrong to blame an entire community for the misdeeds of the handful.

“Those who commit offence are criminals but that does not mean putting an entire community on the dock. A crime should not be attributed to people going by their religion. None have no right to say that,” the chief minister said. She said, “It is like playing with fire. I fear communal riots. Communal fire can be far more dangerous than (playing with) political fire.”

On Saradha scam, Banerjee said her government had arranged to return the money to five lakh de-frauded investors by arranging money from the government despite its financial constraints.

“If we had more money we would have returned more”, she said.

“We had thought we will give money (to the cheated depositors) through the state government and the Justice Shyamal Sen Commission (which was set up by the state government earlier to inquire into the Saradah scam and similar other companies operating in the state).

“But now it has been given to ED and CBI. Let them do. We do not have any problem, the chief minister said at a Kali puja inauguration programme here.

Two suspected militants were killed in the blast in Burdwan on October 2 in which terror link is suspect. NIA has since launched a probe into it after the Centre decided suo motu for such an enquiry by the central agency. Banerjee had earlier said, “Criminals are criminals and they have no caste, creed or religion”.

PTI