Accusing the BJP and the Election Commission of forming a nexus to disenfranchise voters in West Bengal through the SIR exercise, TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Tuesday urged people to “un-map the BJP from Bengal” and ensure the party’s victory in 250 of the 294 seats in the upcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal.
Addressing a public rally at Rampurhat in Birbhum district as part of his Abar Jitbe Bangla campaign, Abhishek said, “The BJP government at the Centre has been repeatedly resorting to deliberate acts of insulting the people of Bengal and has now formed a nexus with the Election Commission to target the state in the name of conducting the SIR exercise.”
On my way here, I was told that Professor Amartya Sen, the Nobel laureate who brought global recognition to our country, has been served with an SIR hearing notice. Many eminent people, like actor Dev and cricketer Md Shami, who were part of Team India’s World Cup-winning squad, were also served notices.
“The only way to respond to this insult is by winning all 11 seats that Birbhum has to offer in the state assembly,” said Banerjee, considered number two in the TMC hierarchy.
Save the Dubrajpur seat, which was won by the BJP in the 2021 state polls; the remaining 10 seats in the district were all won by the TMC in the previous assembly elections.
“Un-map from this state the Bangla Birodhi (anti-Bengal) BJP which has made the people suffer such ignominy time and again,” said Abhishek.
He also slammed BJP leader Kalipada Soren for his controversial remarks on women and the TMC government’s Lakshmir Bhandar scheme. “On one hand, Didi (Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee) is giving Lakshmir Bhandar, and on the other hand, BJP leaders want to stop the scheme. BJP state committee member – Kalipada Soren – said women receiving Lakshmir Bhandar should be locked in their houses. Till the time, Didi is here, no BJP leader can even point a finger at you,” the TMC leader said.
Referring to the assault on a hawker selling chicken patties near the venue of the mass recital of Bhagavad Gita verses at the Brigade Parade Grounds in Kolkata on December 7, Abhishek said, “Delhi leaders of BJP are deciding who will eat egg curry, who will eat fish curry… If they can launch an attack on a poor hawker and on your food choices by winning only 70 seats in the state, imagine what they can do if they come to power. I would say that our target this time should be to win 250 seats.”
TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee on Tuesday flew to Birbhum in a chopper of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren after the DGCA allegedly denied permission to his helicopter.
Abhishek, who reached late at the rally venue, apologised to the people for coming late, and said, “My chopper was not given clearance (by the DGCA). BJP thinks these tricks will stop me, but I am ten times stubborn than the BJP. Since my chopper didn’t receive clearance, I spoke to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and arranged for his chopper to come for this meeting.”
Two months ago, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was forced to abandon her scheduled helicopter travel after it failed to arrive at Howrah’s Dumurjala Stadium at the last moment, compelling her to undertake the journey to Bongaon by road. The disruption delayed her arrival at the Trikone Park rally by nearly 2 hours.