“Won’t let anyone take away people’s voting rights till I am alive,” says Mamata Banerjee
The Trinamool Congress supremo on Thursday took her political attack to the doorstep of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, accusing him of indulging in “dynasty politics”, a refrain that the BJP has consistently levelled against her and her party.
Mamata also targeted the Election Commission of India, albeit without directly naming the poll panel, and threatened to “expose the undemocratic practices” which the body, she alleged, was carrying out across India by means of top bureaucrats and police officers who are “in the family” of the commission members.
“Amit babu, you accuse us of running ‘dynasty politics’, but what about your son who presides over an international cricket board where thousands and lakhs of crores of rupees are involved? Such money is not involved in politics. Is that not a dynasty? Do you call it socialism?” Mamata questioned, in her apparent reference to the Union Home Minister.
While she was alluding to the Home Minister’s son Jay Shah, who is the chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC), the BJP charges her with running dynasty politics because of her nephew, TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, who is considered number two in the party.
Addressing a rally in Kolkata to mark the foundation day of the Trinamool Chatra Parishad, the party’s students’ wing, Mamata claimed that the BJP has deployed over 500 teams from across the country in West Bengal to conduct surveys aimed at deleting names of voters from the electoral rolls.
“Do not give your details if anyone comes to your house for surveys. They will use that data to delete your name from the voters’ list. Instead, check directly with the polling centres and ensure your Aadhaar cards are ready, because the Centre has made it compulsory,” she told her supporters at the rally.
Alleging that the Election Commission was intimidating state government officers at the behest of the BJP, she said: “I respect the office of the EC, but you know, lollipops suit children. If adults start taking lollipops on behalf of one party, it does not look good.”
The TMC supremo alleged that the BJP is insulting Bengalis by branding poor migrant workers from the state as “Bangladeshis”. “You torture poor people by calling them Bangladeshis. But to me, poor people are my biggest strength. I don’t believe in caste or creed, I believe in humanity,” she said.
“Recently, a migrant worker from Habra was killed in Maharashtra, but these people (BJP) never raise their voice over such atrocities,” she said.
Mamata alleged that the BJP was trying to make people forget the role played by Bengalis during the freedom movement. “If there is no Bengali language, then in which language were the national anthem and national song written? They want people to forget the historical role played by Bengalis. Now they are even funding movies to defame Bengal and insult our history,” she alleged.
“Their predecessors were agents of the British who gave undertakings to get out of jails,” she claimed.
Taking on the Centre, the Chief Minister alleged that funds for key welfare schemes had been withheld out of “political jealousy”. “For four to five consecutive years, Bengal was number one in providing 100 days’ work, building houses for the poor and constructing rural roads. Out of jealousy, they have stopped our funds, and now they want to impose the NRC to take away people’s voting rights. But as long as I am alive, nobody will be allowed to snatch away people’s voting rights,” she said.
Mamata also alleged that Central agencies have been weaponised by the BJP to target Opposition parties. “Earlier, no government used Central agencies like this before elections. But the BJP has made it a routine,” she claimed.
The Chief Minister accused the CPIM of “joining hands” with the BJP to fight her. “The CPIM government in Kerala is claiming that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose fled the country in fear of the British,” she said.
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