Poster asks shops to boycott Bengal BJP men; ostracisation, says Nirmala Sitharaman

GHATAL/KOLKATA: A poster asking shop owners not to sell anything to 18 BJP organisers of a Midnapore village sent shockwaves in political circles on Saturday reaching up to Delhi. Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman tweeted against the way people were being “ostracised” in a Bengal village.


“This is shocking. Would urge CM @MamataOfficial to see that ALL citizens in West Bengal are protected and not ostracised or denied the basics. Otherwise, a true shame,”

Sitharaman

posted.

The tweet prompted the West Midnapore police to lodge an FIR suo motu after the poster was found in the Mahishda market area on Friday night.

The poster asked villagers of booths 176 and 179 under Keshpur assembly constituency, where BJP had got a lead, to boycott its local organisers. It also asked shop and tea stall owners to stop selling items to 18 BJP karyakartas. The fatwa, issued purportedly by the Mahishda Trinamool, warned of a heft penalty on traders if they failed to comply with the orders without “consent of the party”.

BJP Rajya Sabha MP

Swapan Dasgupta said: “ The idea is to break the morale and economic backbone of karyakartas, using the cover of media silence & police complicity.” BJP workers complained that similar leaflets were being distributed in Keshpur.

Trinamool Ghatal MP Dev Adhikari, however, said the poster was not issued by anyone from Trinamool.