KOLKATA: The NDA won the Bihar polls through manipulation; it didn’t have the people’s mandate, said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at a rally on Wednesday, challenging the Centre to put her behind bars, even then her party would win the state polls.
Mamata said RJD’s performance in the Bihar polls was impressive despite Lalu Prasad’s incarceration.
She did not spare the Congress and CPI-M, who are likely to form an alliance in the state polls, accusing them of being in collusion with the BJP to regain ground in Bengal.
The defeat of BJP in the 2021 assembly election in West Bengal, where it has emerged as the main opposition, will be a "mighty blow to the arrogance and misrule of the BJP at the Centre", she said.
“They (the BJP) failed to defeat RJD in Bihar elections. Despite Lalu being in jail, his party performed impressively. If they (BJP) have the guts, let them throw me behind bars, I will fight from there and the TMC will win Bengal polls. The BJP’s victory in Bihar is through manipulation and not through popular mandate,’’ said Mamata while addressing a rally in Bankura.
Accusing the BJP of trying to poach her party MLAs by bribing them, Mamata said the BJP was “not a political party but garbage of life”.
“Whenever elections come, they bring up the issue of Saradha and Narada (scams) to intimidate TMC leaders. I am not afraid of the BJP and its agencies.’’
Without naming anyone, she said some people are sitting on the fence under the illusion that the saffron party might come to power in the state.
"The BJP is not a political party but a garbage of lies. The BJP is a curse to the nation. Whenever election knocks at the door, it brings up the issues of Narada (sting operation) and Saradha (scam) to intimidate TMC leaders.
"But let me tell very clearly that I am not afraid of the BJP or its agencies. If they have the guts, they can arrest me and put me behind bars. I will fight elections from the jail and ensure TMC's victory," Banerjee said in her first major public rally here post-COVID.
"Even Lalu Prasad Yadav has been put behind bars, but still he has ensured his party's good performance. The victory of the BJP (in Bihar) is through manipulation and not through popular mandate. It is not a victor, it is a defeat," the TMC supremo, who is one the most vocal critics of the BJP, said.
The TMC supremo exuded confidence that the party will return to power in West Bengal for the third consecutive time with a bigger mandate than in the present term.
Accusing BJP of allegedly attempting to poach TMC leaders, she said "They have thousands of crores of rupees now. Earlier, they couldn't even have a proper meal. Now they are calling TMC workers and MLAs and saying 'I will pay you two crores come over'".
Names of a number of TMC leaders and elected representatives of the party surfaced in the Narada sting operation and Saradha chit fund scam.
“Some people are acting as fence-sitters living in the illusion that the BJP would come to power in the state. There is neither chance nor even an off-chance for the BJP,’’ Mamata said in a reference to Subhendu Adhikary, the state transport minister who is rumoured to be joining BJP soon.
The Bengal CM admitted she was not able to concentrate on her party’s organizational activities because of the workload that she faced. However, she said she would now focus on the party’s political activities.
In a message to disgruntled TMC leaders, she said that she is aware of those in touch with the opposition camp and differences among individuals should not lead to any misunderstanding about the party.
Banerjee said she will henceforth personally look after the party as well as the administration.
"I have been in politics all my life. Through my experience, I can never claim that everybody is good. There may be one or two people who are not good, but we will set right those mistakes. The TMC will rectify if some mistakes have been committed," she said.
"There can be misunderstandings or someone may be angry with some individuals, but please don't misunderstand the party for that," Banerjee appealed.
TMC, she said, has a mechanism for seeking ground reports about its leaders and had removed several leaders against whom there were complaints.
"Some have grievances over who will act as the party observer of which district. I want to make it clear that I am the party's observer for the entire state. When you are in a political party, you need to take everybody along," she asserted.
She iterated that Union Home Minister Amit Shah's recent visit to a tribal household on November 5 here for lunch was a "show off" and the food items served to the BJP leader were cooked at five-star hotels.
Shah during his visit to Bengal earlier in the month had visited a tribal household in Bankura and a Matua home in Kolkata.
Taking potshots at the CPI(M), Banerjee told the meeting "Earlier the CPI(M)had unleashed a reign of terror in Bankura. Several people were killed and were rendered homeless by CPI(M) goons. People didn't dare to come out of their homes then. Has Bankura forgotten everything?"
"Bankura is at peace now. The guns of Maoists have fallen silent. CPI(M) goons have switched over to the BJP. Only the colour has changed," she said.
"CPI(M) is a party of the lobhi (greedy), BJP is a party of "bhogi" (one who enjoys) and TMC is a party of the "tyagi" (who renounces).
Now both CPI(M) and the BJP have joined hands in Bengal," she claimed and expressed confidence that it will win all assembly seats in the district.
Bankura, a tribal and backward community dominated district, is one of the several in the state where BJP had made deep inroads in the last Lok Sabha elections by bagging both the parliamentary seats.
She cautioned the people against voting for BJP as it "will pave the way for the implementation of NRC and CAA in Bengal", which has been vehemently opposed by TMC.
Banerjee said, "If you vote for BJP and they come to power (in West Bengal), they will immediately try to introduce the National Register for Citizens (NRC).
They will ask you for the birth certificates of your father, your mother, your grandmother and your grandfather.
And if you are unable to provide those they will ask you to leave Bengal".
Reacting to Banerjee's challenge to BJP to send her to jail, the party's West Bengal president Dilip Ghosh said it seemed she has sensed that the days of the TMC government are numbered.
"Why is she making such illogical statements? Is she and her party afraid of anything? The days of the TMC government are numbered in Bengal and I think she has sensed it.
"If TMC is a party of the tyagis, from where are its leaders getting money to build such big houses and buy cars. The TMC is the most corrupt party of India," he said. The CPI(M) too refuted Banerjee's allegations that its cadres were joining hands with the BJP.
"It is TMC which has ensured space for the saffron camp through its competitive communalism," it said.
Election to the 294-member West Bengal Assembly is due in April-May.
Reacting to Mamata’s speech, state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh said everyone would have to pay for siphoning Central funds.
“If Didi has to go to jail, her brothers too will,’’ he said while addressing a rally in Birbhum district.
'Siraj and Jai Sri Ram' stay together in BJP: Vijayvargiya
In an apparent bid to woo the Muslim voters ahead of the Assembly election in West Bengal, senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya on Wednesday said that the uniqueness of the party is that both "Siraj and Jai Shri Ram" can stay together on its stage.
'Siraj' is a Quranic name generally given to Muslim boys meaning light or lamp, while 'Jai Shri Ram' is a Hindi expression which means 'Hail Lord Ram' or 'Victory to Lord Ram'.
Vijayvargiya claimed that the difference between Narendra Modi and Mamata Banerjee is that while the prime minister takes everyone along, the West Bengal chief minister favours one set of people over the other.
The BJP has often accused the Trinamool Congress, headed by Banerjee, of appeasing the minority community.
"This is the stage of the Bharatiya Janata Party, where both Siraj and Jai Shri Ram can stay together.
This is the uniqueness of the party," the BJP national general secretary in-charge of West Bengal said while addressing a party rally here in Purba Medinipur district.
The state where assembly election is due in April-May next year has around 30 per cent Muslim population.
"Modiji says 'sab ka sath, sab ka vikas aur sab ka vishwas'. This is the mantra of the BJP," Vijayvargiya said.
At the rally in which a number of Trinamool Congress workers joined the saffron party, the BJP leader claimed that while Modi thinks of the welfare of the poor, Banerjee exploits them.
Claiming that the prime minister has sent five kg of vegetables to each citizen every month to deal with the hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the BJP leader alleged that syndicates in the state had sold those off in the market.
"Modiji had sent Rs 2,000 crore for the treatment of those suffering from Covid, but the Mamata Banerjee dispensation misused the money," Vijayvargiya alleged.
The BJP leader reiterated the charge that a Rs 1,000 crore fund given for cyclone Amphan relief by the Centre was looted by syndicates in the state.
Vijayvargiya also claimed that respect to women can be guaranteed only by a BJP government and urged the people of West Bengal to vote the saffron party to power in the Assembly elections.
(With PTI Inputs)