Shouldn’t PM be disqualified for ‘Didi O Didi’, asks Abhishek as Mamata holds dharna against govt
Politics

Shouldn’t PM be disqualified for ‘Didi O Didi’, asks Abhishek as Mamata holds dharna against govt

TMC's Abhishek questions manner in which Rahul Gandhi was disqualified after conviction in defamation case, CM Mamata Banerjee uses 'washing machine' to allege misuse of central agencies.

   
Mamata Banerjee at dharna in Kolkata Wednesday | ANI

Mamata Banerjee at dharna in Kolkata Wednesday | ANI

Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) will seek the disqualification of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a Member of Parliament, general secretary Abhishek Banerjee declared at a public meeting Wednesday.

“Just because he (Rahul Gandhi) said something about the Modi surname, his membership was cancelled, then shouldn’t the PM’s membership not be cancelled for insulting women by catcalling the CM with ‘Didi O Didi’… He has insulted all the women,” the Lok Sabha MP from Diamond Harbour said at a packed Shahid Minar ground in Kolkata.

Banerjee was alluding to the conviction of Rahul Gandhi by a court in Gujarat’s Surat in a 2019 criminal defamation case which led to the Congress leader’s disqualification as an MP. His other reference was aimed at PM Modi’s usage of ‘Didi O Didi’ to address CM and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee in the run-up to the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections.

Minutes away from Shahid Minar ground where he addressed supporters, CM Mamata Banerjee sat on a 48-hour dharna — alleging a delay on the part of the central government in clearance of funds for various schemes — near the Ambedkar Statute on Red Road.

Armed with a copy of the Constitution, she said the protest was aimed at ‘saving the Constitution and highlighting central government’s apathy towards Bengal’. She was also quick to clarify that the protest was organised by the TMC and not the state government.

To underline her claim that central agencies were being misused to target opposition leaders, the chief minister was even seen inserting black clothes in a dummy washing machine on stage and pulling out white ones from the other side.

Meanwhile, Abhishek during the public meeting reiterated TMC’s stance on Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification as a Member of Parliament. “Three days ago, Rahul Gandhi was disqualified. We opposed it, not because it is Rahul Gandhi, but the way in which he was disqualified… I don’t support his comment but the statement he made was a political statement,” he said.

Abhishek also alleged that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA and Leader of Opposition in the Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari had “targeted” state minister and TMC leader Birbaha Hansda for her tribal origins lat year.

The Trinamool Congress has hinted at its widening distance from the Congress even as its leaders joined the dinner meeting for opposition parties hosted by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in Delhi Monday. This renewed attack on the BJP comes in the backdrop of TMC failing to replace the Congress as the primary opposition in Goa, Tripura and Meghalaya despite its plans to expand its footprint across the country.

Meanwhile, the Congress has announced its plans to hold a month-long ‘satyagraha’ (non-violent sit-in) to protest Gandhi’s disqualification from Parliament a day after he was convicted in the criminal defamation case.

(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)


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