Crisscrossing parts of south Bengal, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday continued her scathing attack on her political rival, the BJP, as well as the Election Commission (EC), accusing the latter of snatching the power of the state government and its people.
“The zamindars of Delhi have snatched all power from my hands. This is for one month. After that, remember: no matter how hard you try, your thirst will not be quenched. TMC is coming; TMC will prevail. As long as the people remain, the ‘twin flowers’ (TMC poll symbol) will remain,” the chief minister, who addressed three public meetings – at Belda, Panskura and Debra, said.
Asserting that her party, the TMC, will come to power in the state for a fourth consecutive term, she said in Debra, “Once the elections are over and we win in West Bengal, we will unite everyone and take the people of the entire country to capture Delhi.”
Targeting the BJP, she added, “You have made people stand in lines. You have insulted them. People will take revenge for this insult
at the ballot box today. You will see it then. No matter how much the anti-Bengal BJP conspires, they will fail again.”
The chief minister was referring to the demonetisation decision taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, followed by the Covid-19 lockdown.
Turning her focus on dietary habits to attack the BJP, she asked, “Why is there so much greed and filthiness from your side regarding the food of Bengal? No fish, no meat, no eggs—what will they eat instead? Will they eat people’s heads?”
She also raised the issue of atrocities against Bengalis outside the state: “Go outside West Bengal; if you speak in Bengali, you won’t be allowed to stay in hotels. If you speak Bengali, you will be tortured and beaten to death. Wherever the BJP is in power,
they don’t allow fish to be eaten. Fish shops are closed. Meat shops are closed. They are truly blind.”
Mamata also accused the BJP of exploiting religion: “They campaign in the name of religion but lead it astray. They follow no true faith; they are religious hypocrites. They sell religion. We keep religion in our hearts and respect it. They live off selling faith, while we give birth to humanity. That is the difference between them and us.”
Referring to Medinipur as the home district of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, the TMC supremo said, “Because of him, we learned our vowels, consonants, and alphabets on this very soil. His statue was broken during BJP leader’s Amit Shah’s rally last time. They do not respect Vidyasagar. They mispronounce Matangini’s name. They refer to Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay as ‘Bankim-da.’ They don’t respect Raja Rammohun Roy or Khudiram. We do. Where was the BJP during the Independence movement? Were they even born? They hadn’t even come into existence. They bowed their heads to the British and fled.”
Slamming the EC over the SIR (Special Intensive Revision) of electoral rolls, Mamata claimed that the poll panel has removed 1.2 crore names of people from its electoral roll. “Many names were deleted. Check online and apply. We will provide lawyers,” she said.