With the rival BJP and Trinamool Congress politicians using festive occasions to exchange political barbs, former Tripura Chief Minister and MP Biplab Deb on Tuesday likened Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to a “demon” that would be dethroned by the people of her State.
Deb, who is also the BJP’s election co-in-charge of Bengal, said so after offering his prayers at a Kali temple in Tripura. Usually coinciding with Dipawali, the Kali Puja is largely celebrated in Bengal and Tripura.
Goddess Kali is credited with annihilating Sumbha and Nisumbha, the two demons who The BJP leader said that the Bengal Chief Minister had lost her right to rule the State as she had changed her behaviour from that of a human being to a demon. “When she was in the opposition or when she came to power, she was different… but now she has metamorphosed into a demon… being a woman, she was expected to be soft and tender… who would serve the people with empathy… but now it seems that she does not have any feeling in her heart,” Deb said.
The Assembly elections are likely to be held in Bengal sometime in April-May next year. The BJP, which is the main opposition party in the State, has vowed to end the “autocratic and corrupt rule” of Mamata Banerjee. Her name ‘Mamata’ (empathy), does not match her acts, which is why she has become infamous,” the BJP leader said, adding it was during Banerjee’s rule that rapes, murders, and corruption had become a routine affair in Bengal, which the people wanted to end. “Members of her family are involved in corrupt practices… many of her leaders have turned into land mafia and have harmed the State to no end,” he said.
“The people of Bengal are fed up with her demonic rule, and so they have decided to end it” in the 2026 Assembly elections, he said, adding that soon he would be in Kolkata and hold meetings to chart out plans to understand the pulse of the people and organise them ahead of 2026.
The TMC too used the atmosphere of Kali Puja to launch an all-out attack on the “demons of BJP”, saying 2026 would see the end of BJP’s demons in Bengal. Senior TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee spoke out in a similar tone, saying the Bengal Chief Minister would be blessed by the Mother Goddess Kali so that she could eliminate the demons of the BJP.
Launching a frontal attack on Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar, the TMC leader said, “There are many BJP leaders like him in Bengal who resemble demons… these demons are roaming all over the State and must be thrown out… I have prayed to the Mother Goddess Kali to give Mamata Didi so much strength that she can throw them out of the State in the 2026 Assembly elections.”
