Mamata Banerjee to skip Opposition's anti-CAA meet on 13 Jan, cites violence by Left, Congress during Bharat Bandh as reason

Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said she will boycott the Opposition’s anti-CAA meeting convened by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on 13 January to protest the violence unleashed in the state allegedly by Left Front and Congress workers during a trade union strike.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to boycott the January 13 opposition meeting in Delhi, alleging that Congress and Left are 'playing dirty politics in West Bengal' and that she will fight against #CAA and #NRC alone. (file pic) pic.twitter.com/u3L3cKqI1j

— ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2020

The 24-hour nationwide strike by central trade unions across the nation on Wednesday was marked by incidents of violence and arson, blocking of railway tracks and roads by protestors trying to enforce the shutdown in Bengal. Mamata said “double standards” of the Left Front and Congress will not be tolerated. “I have decided to boycott the meeting convened by Sonia Gandhi on 13 January in New Delhi as I don’t support the violence that the Left and Congress unleashed in West Bengal yesterday (Wednesday),” the chief minister said at the state Assembly. Sonia Gandhi has called a meeting of Opposition parties, including the Left, to discuss the situation arising out of violence on various university campuses and protests in the country over the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019.