Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday blamed the BJP for playing divisive politics in the country and said she will not allow Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to “make India into a Taliban”.
“These people (BJP) say whatever they feel like if somebody is dissenting. But I want to make it very clear to them that I don’t think you can make India into a Taliban. You think you can get away by swearing at people… we won’t let you do that,” Banerjee said at a public rally in Alipore’s Bodyguard Lines in her characteristic Bengali-laced Hindi.
Challenging the BJP, Banerjee also emphasised that she won’t let anyone divide India.
“Here Gandhi will also live, so will Netaji, Abul Kalam Azad, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Rabindranath Tagore, Vivekananda, Vallabhbhai Patel, Guru Gobind Singh, Guru Nanak, Jain (Mahavira) and Buddha. Everybody will live here…. I won’t let BJP divide India. I won’t let BJP divide Bengal and I will also not let BJP divide the common man,” said Banerjee, amid cheering and clapping from the crowd.
Alipore’s Bodyguard Lines area has a sizeable Muslim population and is part of the Bhabanipur assembly constituency where Banerjee is all set to contest a bypoll on 30 September in which she is up against BJP’s Priyanka Tibrewal.
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NRC and CAA
In her 30-minute speech, which was laced with Muslim couplets, Banerjee also made references to the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), noting that she will not let anyone implement both.
“I had sent a team to Assam when the government there came out with an NRC list but our team was not allowed to enter the state. But I have said it clearly that I will not implement NRC here… I did not let them do NRC here,” she said.
“In the name of the Census they are doing NPR (National Population Register) and will then cancel people’s citizenship,” the chief minister added.
She also reminded people to cast their vote in her favour on 30 September if they want her to fight against CAA, NRC and demonetisation.
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Khela hobe in Assam, Tripura, Goa and UP: Banerjee
During her speech, Banerjee also announced that her party Trinamool Congress is ready to go national, and mentioned the upcoming polls in Tripura, Assam, Goa and Uttar Pradesh.
“We will fight in different parts of India. Tripure me khela hobe, Assam me khela hobe, Goa me khela hobe, UP me khela hobe… BJP should know that a party has finally come to fight them… Hum ladenge, khelenge, jeetenge aur BJP ko desh se hatayenge (We will fight, play, win and remove BJP from the country),” Banerjee said.
Following her party’s victory in West Bengal for a third term in a row earlier this year, Banerjee has made no secret of the fact that Trinamool is looking to expand beyond the state.
Her party is in talks with like-minded parties, including Pradyot Kishore Debbarma’s Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance, a regional party in Tripura.
Banerjee also called out the BJP for imposing Section 144 in Tripura, which disallows gatherings and public meetings, so that Trinamool cannot hold events or rallies in the state.
“Today they have imposed Section 144 so that Abhishek (Banerjee, Trinamool MP) can’t enter the state. I want to ask the state government if they will impose Section 144 on 12 October when Durga Puja starts. Will they impose Section 144 during Kali Puja and Chaath Puja?”
This is not the first time such a situation has taken place. In July this year, a team from poll strategist Prashant Kishor’s Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), which had been hired by Trinamool for election strategy aid, was arrested after they went to Tripura to study the political situation there.
On Yogi and Covid mismanagement in UP
Banerjee also took on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for mishandling the Covid pandemic in Uttar Pradesh during the aggressive second wave.
“In UP, they threw the Covid dead bodies in Ganga. Some bodies were found floating in Malda too. When we came to know, we took out the bodies and cremated them. We gave dignity to the dead,” she said.
She also hit out at the UP CM for arresting journalists who spoke out against the government. She, however, did not mention any names while making her claim.
“You know who rules UP? It’s the BJP. Nobody can speak out. If people speak, if journalists speak, they are sent to jail,” Banerjee added.
(Edited by Rachel John)
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