West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for inaugurating the Vande Bharat Express a day after the Pulwama terror attack and said the Centre should have declared a three-day mourning period. Advertising “We must consider that this is a national issue. We have to look at it seriously. No one must do politics with it. However, politics has started over this. Even today, the Prime Minister inaugurated a railway project. If anything serious happens, we must not (hold such events). We should avoid political and government programmes. Why did they (Centre) not declare three days’ mourning? They only declare three days’ mourning when political leaders die. I demand 72 hours of mourning for the soldiers who sacrificed their lives. Only one flag (national) is not enough for them,” she told reporters at the state secretariat after returning from Delhi. The chief minister also said she wanted to express solidarity with the victims of the terror attack. “After Pathankot, this is a big attack on our jawans. We will stand by their families…But did this incident take place? Was there any intelligence failure? What was National Security Adviser doing? People are asking these questions and they have a right to know. We want strong action against the culprits.” The chief minister was of the view that the Centre should have convened an all-party meeting instead of a parliamentary party meeting. Advertising “The government has called for a parliamentary party meeting. Under these circumstances, an all-party meeting should have been convened. My party members will attend… However, I don’t understand why they have called this meeting when the five-year Parliament session is over,” she said.

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