Riots a conspiracy, says CM as BJP pushes for her resignation

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday claimed there was a conspiracy behind the communal riots in Murshidabad district that broke out during protests against the new Waqf law even as the Opposition said she had failed to control the violence and sought her resignation.

- Tanmay Chatterjee

At a meeting with Muslim religious leaders to discuss the newly enforced Waqf (Amendment) Act, the Trinamool Congress chairperson said that if infiltrators were involved, the responsibility rests with central agencies that are tasked with guarding the nation's borders. She accused the BJP and the central government of polarising communities and spreading "fake news" about Bengal. She also questioned what she viewed as an inordinate urgency to pass the Waqf bill despite turmoil in neighbouring Bangladesh.