Kolkata: About a fortnight before Opposition bloc ‘INDIA’ holds its third meeting, in Mumbai, leaders of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), which is part of the alliance, used a programme in Kolkata to project West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as the next prime minister.
“We will defeat the BJP. Mamata will be the prime minister,” state Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim, believed to be a close aide of the CM, said Sunday at a conclave of TMC supporters who run a social media page called ‘FAM4TMC’.
“She (Mamata) scolded me before the 21 July Shahid Diwas (Martyrs’ Day) rally in Kolkata. She told me not to say it. I told her she can silence me but how will she silence the hearts of the people of Bengal,” he added.
Hakim also informed TMC workers and supporters that the CM had instructed him to attend the event.
Addressing the gathering, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh read out a banner on the stage: “Bolche Banglar janata, pradhan mantri hok Mamata (people of Bengal are saying they want Mamata as PM).”
Asserting that he was speaking in a personal capacity and “from the heart”, he said Mamata should be the next PM as she was the driving force behind the INDIA alliance.
“Mamata Banerjee is a seven-time MP, four-time Union minister and three-time CM. She has the highest experience in politics. Trinamool is aiming to win all 42 Lok Sabha seats from Bengal this time. Vote so that this is the last time PM (Narendra) Modi unfurls the tricolour this Independence Day. Vote in a way that on 15 August 2024, Mamata Banerjee addresses the nation from Red Fort,” Ghosh told the crowds.
Hakim said that “every speech that Modi delivers has the mention of Mamata Banerjee. This is because he believes that only Mamata Banerjee can take him on”.
Reacting to the TMC leaders’ statements, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari slammed the party and took a dig at the newly-formed INDIA alliance.
“The first contender of the PM Post from the “Special 26” I.N.D.I Alliance has thrown her hat in the ring!!! Regional TMC Party’s Social Media & IT (FAM) Conclave; attended by some of the bigwigs of the Party, including Cabinet Ministers, have made their official stance clear. Not only is it written on their Backdrop – “Mamata for PM” in a bold manner, but they are literally spelling it out,” he wrote on social media Monday.
“Wonder how the other PM aspirants of their Alliance would gulp it down! With a pinch of salt maybe…Or…The action starts. Hold on to your popcorn guys, the knives & daggers are about to be out,” he added.
Speaking to ThePrint Monday, TMC spokesperson Riju Dutta, who had also attended the conclave, said that what the party leaders had announced Sunday was not the official line.
“The CM herself has said she doesn’t want the (PM’s) chair, and that is the party line. What was said on stage was the personal view of these leaders, as they are also TMC workers and support Mamata Banerjee,” he added.
At a 21 July gathering in Kolkata, amid heavy rain, Mamata had declared that she didn’t want the PM’s chair, and instead wanted to defeat the BJP.
“Today, whatever fight takes place in the country, it will take place under the banner of I.N.D.I.A. Bharat will win, we don’t care for the chair, we don’t need any chair. We are speaking clearly, we want to defeat the BJP,” she had said.
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‘TMC social media warriors doing great job’
With the bio that reads ‘social media influencer’, the FAM4TMC page on social media platform X has 259.5k followers, but is not a verified account. The conclave was held near Mamata’s residence.
While TMC insiders call the FAM4TMC page an “unofficial IT cell” of the TMC in which the CM’s “relatives also play an active role”, party spokesperson Riju Dutta called it “a platform formed by TMC supporters”.
“We as leaders are invited and we join such programmes (conclave) in our personal capacity,” he told ThePrint, adding that it was an attempt “to enthuse TMC’s social media warriors who do not hold any party post but are citizens who support the party and who are fighting the misinformation being spread by the BJP online”.
Hakim, at the conclave, thanked the FAM4TMC. “Our generation didn’t know how to operate Facebook but today the social media is the only tool to reach out to the world,” he said.
“When the BJP first came, they surrounded us with their social media outreach, and I got scared. I told Mamata Banerjee that the BJP is pulling the youth through its social media campaign. Now I have learnt to scroll, and I see TMC social media warriors doing a great job,” he added.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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