Mamata Banerjee on Friday met INDIA leaders Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar in Mumbai and asserted that the third Narendra Modi government was
unstable.

The Bengal chief minister lauded the fight that the Opposition alliance — particularly the regional parties — had put up during the general election. She said the people had all but sent the BJP packing.

“This (Union) government may not continue also, it is not (a) stable government… (but a) non-stable government,” Mamata said at Matoshree, the Thackeray residence in Bandra, during a joint media interaction where she was flanked by Shiv Sena-UBT leader Uddhav and his son Aditya.

Asked why she thought the government was unstable (the BJP is 32 short of majority), Mamata shot back: “Kaisey stable hay, aap samjhao mereko (How is it stable, you explain to me).”

Asked whether she was alluding to the perceived unreliability of BJP allies N. Chandrababu Naidu (whose Telugu Desam Party has 16 Lok Sabha MPs) and Nitish Kumar (the Janata Dal United has 12), Mamata declined comment.

“No, no, no… please! I do not want to say anything against anybody. Nothing in favour, nor against,” she said.

Asked, in a reference to her party’s 2021 election slogan “khyala hobey (the game is on)”, whether there would be a “khela (game)” now, she said: “Khela toh shuru ho gaya. Chalta rahega (The game has already begun. It will go on).”

This was Mamata’s first visit to Mumbai since the June 4 general election results. She had been invited to the wedding of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant.

Besides the 75-minute with the Thackerays, Mamata met Sharad Pawar of the NCP-SP for around 20 minutes at his home, Silver Oak. She said the meeting with Pawar was essentially personal.

While Mamata’s party is the third largest in the INDIA space with 29 Lok Sabha MPs, Uddhav’s has 9 Lok Sabha members and Pawar’s has 8.

Together with the Congress, the Sena-UBT and NCP-SP had bagged 30 of Maharashtra’s 48 Lok Sabha seats, contributing substantially to INDIA’s impressive showing.

Asked about the Centre’s decision to observe June 25, the date on which the Emergency was imposed in 1975, as Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas, Mamata said: “The most Emergency is taking place in the country in Modiji’s time.”

She added: “Everybody is afraid. It’s not that we support the Emergency… charity, however, begins at home.”

Mamata stressed that stakeholders had not been consulted when the three contentious criminal justice laws that have now replaced the Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act were tabled and passed.

Asked about the INDIA bloc’s contours in Bengal, Mamata said there was no possibility of her joining hands with the CPM or the Congress in the state when, she said, they were aiding the BJP against her.

“Nationally, we have nothing at all against the Congress,” she said.

She added: “Our party’s stand is very clear, ideologically. Unity in diversity is our main ideology and we (will) protect it.”

Mamata said it had been “absolutely unethical” to strip the Thackeray faction of the name and symbol of the Shiv Sena, which was founded by family patriarch Balasaheb Thackeray.

“Yet they fought (the general election) like tigers, and I like it,” she said.

“I will come here for sure during the (Maharashtra) elections (later this year); I will campaign for Uddhavji,” Mamata added.