KOLKATA: Shortly after Abhijit Gangopadhyay joined the BJP on Thursday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee lashed out at the former Calcutta High Court judge, saying from now on, people of the state will give their verdict for him and that her party will ensure his defeat if he contests the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
She also warned Gangopadhyay to face the ire of youths whose job was terminated through his verdicts. “No matter where you contest the Lok Sabha polls from, we will ensure your defeat,” said Mamata while addressing a rally in Kolkata.
Accusing Gangopadhyay of giving biased verdicts and warning him to face its consequences, the chief minister, without naming the former judge, said, “You have taken away jobs of thousands of youths. The youths will not forget you. Your face has been unmasked. All your judgments are under question. Wherever you will go, I will take the jobless youths there. From now on, you will face people’s verdict.”
“You passed one-sided orders without allowing us the opportunity to rectify the honest mistakes if there were any,” she added. While hearing a case of irregularities in school recruitments, Gangopadhyay had terminated thousands of appointments the education department gave, allegedly bypassing the candidates who deserved the jobs. Referring to the Sandeshkhali stir led by women of the North 24 Parganas island against alleged sexual abuse on them by TMC satraps, Mamata said all fingers are not the same. “If any mistake is made, we take immediate action. If TMC leaders and workers commit any offence, police arrest them,” she said.
Over 200 women from the restive Sandeshkhali area attended the TMC rally, which kick-started the party’s poll campaign in the state. Of them, some shared the stage with Banerjee at its culmination point in central Kolkata.
Themed ‘Mahila Der Adhikaar, Aamader Angikaar’ (women’s rights are our commitment), the rally was organised by the TMC a day ahead of International Women’s Day. Wearing her trademark white cotton sari and a shawl wrapped around her neck, Banerjee greeted people on both sides of the road with folded hands while walking the four-kilometre stretch from College Square to Esplanade.
The rally is being seen as a move to control the damage inflicted by the alleged atrocities on women by party functionaries in Sandeshkhali.
Referring to incidents in Bihar, Hathras and Manipur, Mamata lambasted the BJP, saying, “They have no right to talk about women’s safety in Bengal. What did they do in the states where women fell victim to torture? Bengal is the safest for women in the country.”
Mamata’s claim came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing a rally in Barasat, North 24 Parganas, launched a no-holds-barred attack against the TMC-led government over “atrocities on women” in Sandeshkhali. She accused the TMC-led government of failing to ensure women’s safety in the state.
Meanwhile, greeted by petals showered on him, Gangopadhyay reached BJP’s central Kolkata office in the afternoon, where the party’s state president, Sukanta Majumdar and Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari were waiting. He was given the saffron camp’s flag.
CBI team visits Sandeshkhali
A day after getting custody of suspended Trinamool Congress leader Shajahan Sheikh, the CBI on Thursday visited his house and office at Sarberia in Sandeshkhali. After finding both the premises locked, the team took photographs of the houses from outside and left.