Kolkata, June 28 (IANS) A Congress legislator from West Bengal on Sunday courted controversy after he dubbed the state police as “dogs” and warned them against becoming “touts” of the ruling Trinamool Congress.
The remarks by Congress legislator Ashish Marjit, who represents Khargram constituency in Murshidabad district, were made in the presence of state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
“I want to warn these khaki-uniformed dogs… there is a limit to pandering. Stop being touts to the Trinamool. The Trinamool is standing on the support of police who have turned into their touts,” Marjit said at a party rally.
Marjit’s comments were slammed by the CPI-M and the BJP.
“In Bengal, it has become a fashion for politicians to use foul words. The trend that was started by the Trinamool is now being carried out by the Congress,” Communist Party of India-Marxist MP Mohammad Salim said.
Condemning the remarks, state Bharatiya Janata Party president Rahul Sinha said: “This is not surprising. We have seen how Trinamool leaders have perfected the art of hate speech and the Trinamool is an offshoot of the Congress… such remarks are natural from that party.”
Earlier, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee attracted widespread criticism after he spoke of “gouging out eyes and chopping off hands” of those who dared to glare at the people of Bengal.