Modi government using coronavirus as a ploy to shift focus from riots: Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on March 4 said the BJP-led central government is spreading panic over the coronavirus outbreak, accusing the Centre of using it as a ploy to shift focus from the recent clashes in the Capital.

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Addressing a public rally in South Dinajpur district, she said: "Some people are talking too much about the Coronavirus these days. I agree it is a dreaded disease, but it is unfair how some media channels are plugging it to take the Delhi violence off our minds. Of course, we don’t want the pathogen to spread, but remember, all those who were killed in northeast Delhi during the clashes, did not die of the disease."

Targeting Home Minister Amit Shah, who had claimed at a rally in Kolkata that BJP would topple the Mamata Banerjee government in 2021, she said: "Manage Delhi first. Think of Bengal only after that."