TMC chief attacks Modi, Shah for insulting Bengal’s icon
A day after BJP workers taking part in Amit Shah’s roadshow allegedly stoned Calcutta University and ransacked the Vidyasagar College vandalising his statue, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee held a mega roadshow and launched a vitriolic attack on the “saffron gang”.
Mamata accused the BJP of planning Tuesday’s skirmish that apart from “destroying the State’s rich politico-cultural heritage” left many people injured.
In a smart political move, Mamata on Wednesday raised the issue of “Bengali pride” and attacked the BJP leaders for insulting the State’s pioneer renaissance personalities like Vidyasagar.
Addressing a huge election rally at Agarpara under Dum Dum parliamentary constituency, the TMC chief said, “Yesterday’s attack was a well-planned criminal conspiracy hatched by the BJP,” reminding the people would see a “saffron holocaust” if they brought the BJP to power again.
Referring to a video footage of a local BJP leader — in which he is shown directing his people to attack the TMC and police — going viral, she said, “I am sure that the entire BJP leadership, including its president and those below him, was involved in the criminal conspiracy to malign and terrorise Bengal. But I am also sure that the people of the State will never tolerate this.”
It was an “irony that a tall icon like Vidyasagar, who was responsible for the women’s emancipation in India should have been insulted like this on his 200th anniversary,” she said, reminding how the pioneer of the Bengal renaissance had fought for women’s education, widow remarriage, getting the British to enact laws on the subjects.
Soon after the Agarapara rally, the Chief Minister walked a 6-km mega roadshow with several thousand supporters chanting anti-Modi slogans and sporting masks of Bengali cultural icons like Vidyasagar, Rabindranath Tagore, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Kazi Najrul Islam and others.
On the BJP’s chances of coming back to power, Mamata said, “They are spending cash like anything to win the elections but one is sure they will not return to power because they will get zero seats in Tamil Nadu, Kerala Andhra Pradesh, some parts of Maharashtra. They will fare poorly in Gujarat, MP, Telangana, Odisha and Bihar. In UP which used to be their mainstay, they will not get more than 17 seats. So their chances of returning to power are almost nil.”
Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of peddling lies, Mamata said, “I have seen many Prime Ministers but I have never seen a liar PM like this man who talks big but reneges on his promises.”
On the NRC, she said, “He is talking about invoking NRC in Bengal but I dare him do so. Touch the Bengalis and then see what happens. You have already thrown 20 lakh Hindu Bengalis and 22 lakh Muslim Bengalis apart from many Biharis and UP wallas out of the citizenship list. I am told that this is one reason that your party will not do well even in Assam.”
