Under fire from the Opposition over her government’s handling of the Burdwan blast and with her party being accused of “trying to hide Bangladeshi jihadi bombs”, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday trained guns at the BJP for “putting a whole community in the dock”. She said a crime should not be attributed to people judging by their religion.

“It is like playing with fire. I fear communal riots. Communal fire can be much more dangerous than political fire,” she said. Mamata said she had seen how conflagrations spread in Kolkata in post-Babri demolition days.

In her first official response to the October 2 blast in Burdwan in which two people were killed, and in which hands of a banned Bangladeshi terror outfit is suspected, Mamata the “truth must come out”.

Stating that she had no problem with the NIA probe since “criminals are criminals and they have no caste creed or religion,” Mamata, however, attacked the Centre for suo motu ordering the probe by the central agency. “One has to consult not insult,” she said while claiming that the state police had done a fairly commendable job in the initial days of the investigation.

Emphasising that all terror activities must be taken seriously, the CM, however, pointed out that if there was any aspect of “infiltration” or “smuggling” linked to the incident, it should be viewed as a lapse on the part of the central agencies as wekk as also the SSB involved in monitoring the borders.

“During some of my trips to Darjeeling, I had found the Indo-Nepal border near Pasupati, unmanned for over six months and I had intimated the Centre about it,” she said, adding that similarly if central agencies find anything they can always inform the state government. Mamata also came out in support of Bangladesh. “Why should we cast aspersions on a neighbouring country (in Burdwan blast case). A huge population of West Bengal has crossed over from Bangladesh at some point of time or other. We love Bangladesh, why should one blame it for terrorism. Terrorists are a different community,” she said.

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