KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee threatened to sue the central government in a defamation case worth over ‘thousands of crores’ if allegations brought against Trinamool Congress leaders in Narada sting could not be proved.
Speaking at the ‘July 21 Martyrs’ Day’ programme here on Friday, the Trinamool supremo said the party had lost trust in sting operations. “Why is Narada probe taking so long to get completed? We believe that none of our leaders was involved. Hence, if the CBI fails to prove its allegations, we will bring a defamation suit worth thousands of crores against the central government,” she said to over 30 lakh Trinamool Congress supporters, who came from all over the state to mourn the deaths of 13 Youth Congress men who were killed in police firing during a march to Writer’s Building on July 21, 1993.
Mamata demanded an investigation into demonetisation alleging that BJP made crores out of the move. “Over 6 lakh people have lost their jobs due to demonetisation and SBI recovered only Rs 11.6 crore as ‘black money’. It is a big scam,” she said.
The West Bengal chief minister also said that the central government failed in economic indicators. “If we compare financial years 2015-16 and 2016-11, we see that GDP growth has gone down from 8% to 7.1%, industrial growth from 10.3% to 3.1%, job generation has reduced from 12.8 lakh from 2011-13 to 6 lakh in 2014-16 due to demonetisation. Bank credit growth has come down from 10.3% in 2015-16 to 5.1% in 2016-17. Gross Fixed Capital Formation, which is an indicator of investments, has come down from 6.11% in 2015-16 to 0.57% in 2016-17 while Non-Perfoming Assets (NPA) of banks have risen from 5.7% in 2015-16 to 11.9% in 2016-17,” she said.
Sounding the poll bugle for elections in seven municipalities on August 13, panchayat elections in May next year and Lok Sabha polls in 2019, Mamata declared launch of ‘BJP Quit India’ movement from August 9. “I want TMC to win all muncipalities and gram panchayats next year. We have to ensure that BJP does not win a single seat from Bengal in 2019 for which TMC MPs, MLAs, ministers, councillors and panchayat members will have to conduct massive booth and block-level programmes which we will call the ‘BJP Quit India movement’,” she said.
Referring to Gau Rakshaks as Gau Rakshas (demons), she said that Dalits, Muslims and Hindus are not able to lead a life of dignity due to ‘fake Hinduism’. Speaking on the India-China face-off in Dokalam, the West Bengal chief minister said: "West Bengal shares borders with Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and is also the gateway to North-east. If Bengal’s is geographically at risk, India is at risk. We need to save our country, not trot around the globe.”
She also asked workers to report to police of any rumours spread on social media.