West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Saturday intensified her attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of his address to the nation, saying his speeches offered no relief to the poor and were “nothing but a pack of lies”.
Addressing a rally in Bhangar in South 24 Parganas district, Banerjee said, “I hear the prime minister will again address the nation with yet another web of falsehoods. People will not get rations by listening to his speech. His speeches are nothing but a pack of lies.”
Modi is scheduled to speak to the nation at 8.30 pm, a day after the BJP-led government failed to secure passage of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha.
The bill sought to introduce 33 percent reservation for women in Parliament and state assemblies ahead of the 2029 Lok Sabha elections through a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
The legislation required a two-thirds majority but fell short, with 298 MPs voting in favour and 230 against. It needed 352 votes to pass.
Banerjee also widened her political attack on the BJP, alleging that those who had once fomented communal tensions were now leading the country.
“Under the BJP regime, those who once incited riots have now risen to become the leaders of the country,” she said.
Invoking Subhas Chandra Bose and Mahatma Gandhi, the Trinamool Congress supremo said India’s true leaders stood for unity and harmony.
“The real leaders of this nation have always been towering figures like Bose and Mahatma Gandhi, who united the country through ideals of freedom, secularism and harmony, not those who thrive on division, hatred and violence,” she said.
(With inputs from PTI)