A leader of the BJP Youth wing leader has reportedly offered a bounty of Rs 11 lakh to anyone who can bring him Mamata Banerjee's head after the police in her state used batons to disperse a rally in Birbhum on Hanuman Jayanti where participants, carriying swords and trident, raised incendiary slogans.
The Parliament however condemned the statement strongly with the Centre saying the state government was "free to take legal action" against him.
In the Rajya Sabha, Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said the state government can register an FIR and take action.
Raising this issue during Zero Hour in the Upper House, TMC member Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said a BJP youth activist has publicly described West Bengal Chief Minister as a "demon" and announced Rs 11 lakh bounty for anyone who brings the head of Chief Minister.
Roy asked the House and the government to condemn this incident, saying "a constitutionly elected CM has been described as demon."
He said the Centre was trying to "unleash a reign of terror" in West Bengal in the name of religion and other things.
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On Tuesday, police in Suri in West Bengal's Birbhum district used batons to disperse a rally which shouted provocative slogans on temple construction. The police had set up an iron barrier which those in procession tried to break, prompting the law-enforcers to make a lathicharge.
At the outskirts of Suri, thousands of people had ignored a police ban to participate in a rally taken out under the aegis of an organisation observing Hanuman Jayanti. The organisers had asked the police to allow the rally after assuring that they would not carry arms. However, the police did not budge. This agitated the right wing leaders followed by the threat by Yogesh Varshney.
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Yogesh Varshney, a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha was quoted as saying , "Mamata government beat up people. If someone was wearing a red shirt or a red pant, they were beaten up brutally by the police. I don't understand...Mamata Banerjee organises Iftar party, she argues for the Muslims. I want to ask her are Hindus not human?
"If they had any humanity, they wouldn't have beaten up like this.If anyone brings me her severed head, I will give that person Rs 11 lakh," Varshney said while criticising the police action on the rally.
This is not, however, the first time a BJP leader has resorted to such statements.
Earlier this year, an RSS leader Kundan Chandrawa offered Rs 1 crore to anyone who can bring him the Kerala Chief Minister P.Vijayan's head.
Reminding the CM and his supporters of the massacre of the Godhra riots, the RSS leader said, "Yaad hai Ghodra? Chhapan maare the, do hazaar kabrastan me chale gye, ghusa diya unko andar. (Remember the Godhra incident, 56 people were killed, 2,000 people went to graveyards. Dug their graves.)"
Earlier this month, a BJP MLA from Hyderabad kicked up a row with his remarks that the heads of "traitors" opposing construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya will be chopped off.
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(With inputs from PTI)
