Mamata Banerjee on Monday tore into BJP leaders’ hate speeches with regard to the ongoing anti-CAA protest at Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi, wondering why they had turned “our land of birth” into a “killing field”.
This is her first reaction from her to the provocative statement by Union minister of state for finance Anurag Thakur and other BJP leaders, and incidents of firing in the national capital.
“I have been seeing… even the chief minister of UP…. How did he say: ‘Boli nahi, goli sey samjhaya jayega (They will be made to understand with bullets. Not words?)’ I had never heard this type of comments before. A Union minister is also saying the same things. Repeating it, everybody there now, just uttering some hatred… religious sentiments and hatred politics,” the Bengal chief minister said.
Mamata said she felt “ashamed” of the lows to which Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party had dragged the political discourse ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections.
“We feel ashamed. We don’t like it. The way this country is being run. Why is our jonmobhoomi (land of birth) — which we take immense pride in — be turned into a boddhobhoomi, a mrityubhoomi (killing fields)? All the time, encouraging division between people, encouraging problems,” she said.
“I think they should not insult the people of Delhi. Delhi voters, like voters everywhere else, are very important. Because they are going for election, because you (the BJP) have nothing else to say, only the communal card? Always? And whoever talks about the nation and working for it, you will in turn brand them terrorists? All of them? Anti-national? Pakistani? All of them? Where then will our freedom of speech go? We speak according to the Constitution,” added the Trinamul Congress chief. “Everybody nowadays is criticising India, every country. We don’t like this. We love our country.”
Mamata accused the BJP of “abusing government machinery” to foment trouble ahead of every election.
“I heard that today he (Modi) gave speeches, calling everybody a terrorist. He is saying in the Delhi elections, the fate of the country will be seen. If that is true, then have faith in the people. Without faith in the people, why have faith in the goliwalo (those with the bullets)? I will appeal to the BJP, please don’t behave like this. Please don’t play this dirty game,” she said.
The chief minister attributed the aggression to “fear” of being handed defeats by the people.
“It seems they are scared. There is an adage, those who live in fear die before their death,” Mamata said.
“If somebody conducts a democratic movement somewhere, if it is peaceful, the Supreme Court also said peaceful movements are alright. I cent per cent agree with this. Even here, there is such a movement at Park Circus, we never disturbed. This is their right. Anybody can conduct any peaceful movement.”
“But they try to scare, sometimes on university campuses, sometimes firing near women,” Mamata said.
“All these important personalities of the BJP, the constitutional portfolio-holders, if they directly talk about goli not boli, then the country is in gravest danger, that is now proven,” she added.
The chief minister said the BJP resorted to such strategy whenever elections were round the corner because that party had run out of positive things to say.
“There is nothing they can say about development they have undertaken. They are not for farmers, nor labourers, nor the unemployed youth, nor the students, nor the mothers and sisters…. There is only one work they can do: divide the nation,” she said.
“What is this? We too are Hindus. We are proud of being Hindus. We are proud of how our religion is universal. We are followers of Swami Vivekananda, of Gandhiji, of Netaji… all of them were Hindus. But if the nation is so big, everybody must be taken along,” Mamata added.
“What is this, whenever there are elections, that one same thing? And lofty claims. Everyone is a terrorist? What are they then, the biggest nationalists? They are the biggest opportunists. They cannot deliver the goods for the country or the people.”
“They only talk to encourage vandalism, hooliganism, goondaism… not the path of Gandhiji, nor Netaji, nor Sardar Patel, nor Rajendra Prasad, nor Ambedkar, nor Maulana Azad, nor Swami Vivekananda, nor Rabindranath Tagore. Nobody said the sort of things they say.”