GUWAHATI: Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said the TMC is not a party of West Bengal or the Bengalis, as projected by its critics, but of all India.
On her maiden visit to Shillong in election-bound Meghalaya, Banerjee picked the BJP solely for her attack. The BJP, which has two MLAs, is a constituent of the state’s ruling coalition which the National People’s Party (NPP) heads.
“There is a rumour that the Trinamool Congress is a Bengali party. If it is a Bengali party, why do people sing the national song and the national anthem, which were written by Bankim Chandra (Chatterjee) and Rabindranath (Tagore) respectively?” Banerjee asked.
She said “Jai Hind” was Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s slogan and that Mother Teresa had received the Nobel Peace Prize from Kolkata. She asked if people would say all these personalities belonged only to Bengal and not India.
“Why do you divide people on the basis of caste and religion? Let us walk, think and speak together,” Banerjee said. “I am a Bengali too and I am proud about it. I work for all India. I served in several ministries and am a seven-time former MP. You can’t say I cannot come here because I am a Bengali,” she added.
Attacking the BJP, she said the party is “jealous” of the TMC. She said the BJP had tried its best and “misused” power in the last West Bengal elections but could not defeat the TMC which won by two/third majority.
She criticised the Meghalaya government on the recent firing incident on the Assam border that left six people dead. She visited the houses of the five victims from Meghalaya and offered financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh each.