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India must break out of BJP’s prison: Mamata
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said the nation should break out of the BJP’s “prison” and usher in a government of the people.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said the nation should break out of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s “prison” and usher in a government of the people.
She was speaking at the TMC’s annual rally — held in the memory of 13 youth Congress workers killed in police firing in Kolkata on July 21, 1993, during an agitation led by Banerjee against the then Left front government in the state.
“We need a prime minister of the poor people, not the rich. Break out of the BJP’s prison and bring in a people’s government. Your vote in 2024 is not for election but for rejection,” Banerjee said at the rally venue at Esplanade, which was packed with around 400,000 TMC workers.
“I am sure the BJP will not get the single (largest) majority in the next election. Will you come with me to Delhi? Will you see the country with me? Will you fear the CBI and ED?” Banerjee asked the crowd, referring to Central probe agencies that are carrying out investigations in several cases against TMC leaders, including her nephew and the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, who also addressed the gathering.
Echoing Abhishek, who spoke before her, Banerjee said the TMC has to win not only all the 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal but seats in other states such as Meghalaya, Goa, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh.
Banerjee, who is trying to bring regional forces on a common anti-BJP platform, said the TMC will support its allies in other states.
To be sure, the TMC drew a blank in the 2022 Goa assembly polls and did not do too well in the Tripura civic body elections either.
Taking on the Centre on a myriad of issues ranging from inflation, unemployment, disinvestment in PSUs, Banerjee’s address also included a significant mention of the 5 % GST imposed on packaged food items such as puffed rice or muri, a popular snack in Bengal’s villages and part of her own daily diet.
In her usual flamboyant style, Banerjee asked if anyone in the crowd was carrying muri. A man quickly responded and offered a bagful. The chief minister poured it on a tray and raised it at her followers.
“Only those who are morally bankrupt can impose GST on muri, curd and lassi. What will people eat? Won’t our friends in the BJP have muri anymore? They have, after all, said goodbye to Coal India, Steel Authority of India and civil aviation,” Banerjee said, indirectly referring to entry of private players in these sectors.
Accusing the BJP of “dislodging” elected governments in several states, Banerjee said: “They have done it in Maharashtra. Now, they are eyeing Chhattisgarh and Bengal,” she said.
“But the royal Bengal tiger is too big for the BJP. People of Bengal will never surrender. Our government provides free social welfare schemes and medical treatment. Bengal’s farmers have maximum income in the country, according to the Centre’s own records. Our unemployment rate has gone down by 40 %. New industries are coming up. The Deocha Pachami coal mining project will alone provide 100,000 jobs,” she added.
“They (BJP) are doing away with the old Parliament as well. Those who did not even fight for our freedom (from British rule) are talking of creating history,” she quipped.
Referring to the Presidential election but not naming ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) nominee Droupadi Murmu who represents the tribal community, Banerjee said: “They play Hindu, Muslim and tribal cards. We appealed to the Centre so many times to give recognition to Sarna but they did nothing. We, however, passed a bill.”
A number of tribal groups in the country want the Sarna, which is quite distinct from Hinduism, to be recognised by the Constitution as a separate religion. Followers of Sarna worship nature instead of idols. In 2020, the Jharkhand assembly passed a special resolution and sent it to the Centre, seeking a separate religion code for the tribal population.
During Thursday’s address, Banerjee also targeted the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M). Although the party could not win a seat in the last Lok Sabha and assembly polls in Bengal, Left parties secured more votes than the BJP in the recent civic body elections.
Singling out CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member and lawyer Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya who is representing petitioners in numerous cases involving the post-assembly poll violence and alleged corruption in recruitment by the TMC government, Banerjee alleged that corruption was rampant during the erstwhile Left Front regime.
“I want to tell Bikash Bhattacharya that we have records which show that the wives of reporters who work for the CPI(M)’s mouthpiece were employed as teachers. Also, scores of birth certificates were issued to people who were not eligible. Should we make these records public?” Banerjee said.
In response, Bhattacharya dared the chief minister to go ahead.
“Let there be an inquiry commission headed by Mamata Banerjee. She should be sent to a mental asylum if the commission fails to expose the records she is referring to,” he said.
Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar brushed aside Banerjee’s plans for defeating his party in 2024 as a “day dream.”
“Even children will laugh at it. Banerjee also lied about GST being imposed on muri and curd. The GST is applicable only when these products are sold in sealed packets by big companies. The state, too, gets a part of this GST,” said Majumdar.
