I could have gone to Murshidabad earlier but wanted normalcy to return: CM Mamata Banerjee

Howrah (West Bengal) [India], May 5 (ANI): The West Bengal CM Mamata Bannerjee on Monday left for Murshidabad to take stock of the situation following the tensions in the area. Her visit drew sharp criticism from the BJP which called it a delayed response. In response, the Chief Minister said that she could have gone earlier but she wanted peace to return in the violence hit area.
Mamata Banerjee said, "I could have gone to Murshidabad earlier but till the time stability is not attained and peace does not return we should not go and disturb. Now situation has normalised but I had to attend Jagannath Dham programme which was announced many days ago. So after attending the 'Pran Pratishtha' ceremony today I am going to Murshidabad. Today I will reach Behrampur. Tomorrow I will reach Dhuliyan and provide the necessary compensation to the people whose houses and shops have been damaged. Those who have lost their property will also be assessed. In Suti I will organise a public distribution programme. Then I will return back to Kolkata on Wednesday."
BJP leader Dilip Ghosh said that the visit was delayed and should have been done much earlier.
Dilip Ghosh said, "Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee should have gone to Murshidabad earlier. Why she did not go? She called the Imams and conducted a meeting and then went to attend temple inauguration. But when Hindus were suffering and this atrocity takes place repeatedly on Hindus in Murshidabad and Malda. They have to vacate their houses. Their property are burnt. Mamata Banerjee has always remained silent. She is going so late now all the evidence are removed. After 3 to 4 days since violence took place the repairing had started."
"State government officials started repairing houses and temple so that no one could know that such an incident occurred. Mamata Banerjee has already dismissed such violence," he said.
Earlier West Bengal Agriculture Minister Shobandeb Chatterjee said the Chief Minister was unable to go to the place because of the unrest.
Addressing reporters, Chatterjee said, "Our leader, Mamata Banerjee, has been saying this since day one that it has been very difficult for leaders to go to that area. Let the police do their job...There is peace there now, let them live in peace...What needs to be done is being done...she is going to tell everyone how they can live together."
Earlier in April, Murishdabad witnessed massive violence on April 11, during a protest against the Waqf (Amendment) Act. The protest had turned violent and resulted in two deaths, several injuries and property damage. Thousands of people had fled their homes in search of safety.
Earlier on April 26, BJP MP Tarun Chugh had accused the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government of giving "shelter to rioters" following the violence in Murshidabad, and claimed that the silence proved complicity.
"The West Bengal government's silence on the premeditated and planned attack on Hindus in Murshidabad is proof that Mamata Banerjee's government has given shelter to the rioters," Chugh told ANI.
Stepping up his attack on the West Bengal Chief Minister, Chugh said that Bengal has been "ruined and disgraced" under Banerjee's leadership due to "atrocities on Hindus.""Mamata Banerjee has ruined and disgraced Bengal with her atrocities and misrule... This (Murshidabad violence) is a blot on humanity. Her politics of appeasement have given a free hand to criminals in the state," he added.
Chugh's comments come after the National Commission for Women expressed deep concern over the recent "communal violence" in Murshidabad and Malda districts, where women and girls were "subjected to unspeakable acts of sexual violence, physical assault, and rape threats." (ANI)