Mamata Banerjee on Monday said her nephew Abhishek Banerjee was committed to the party and people and he wouldn’t get any special treatment from her.
The Trinamul Congress supremo has defended the party’s Diamond Harbour candidate in response to an apparent jibe at him from BJP national president Amit Shah.
At a rally in Canning on Monday, Shah said: “Previously, it was syndicate tax, now it is nephew tax…. We have to oust this corrupt bua-bhatija (aunt-nephew) government.”
In response, Mamata said at an election rally in Budge Budge: “A leader does not fall from the sky. A leader is created from the grassroots, by working for the people. In my family, everyone is involved in politics. But not one of them is in public life because I never wanted that. Only one member of my family, Abhishek, is in public life. But the BJP is jealous of him also…. Bhatija, bhatija, bhatija, everyday. Today as well, one has come, saying the same thing.”
“He, too, is an ordinary worker of our party. He has dedicated his life to the party and the people. Do not, for one moment, think he gets any special favours from me. He works really hard,” she added.
Although Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah repeatedly attacked Mamata and Trinamul over alleged promotion of Abhishek at rallies, there was not an extensive defence from her.
On Monday, Mamata went all out to stand by Abhishek.
“He has a young wife, a Punjabi girl who doesn’t even understand Bengali properly. They are not even letting her be,” she said.
The chief minister was apparently referring to the Opposition’s charges that Abhishek’s wife Rujira Narula and her sister had prevented customs officials from searching their baggage at the Calcutta airport upon their return from Thailand in March.
“Modibabu, before attacking Abhishek Banerjee, let’s talk about your own wife. Do you even know what family means?”
The Trinamul chief said she had given Abhishek the option of going to the Rajya Sabha, instead of contesting the Lok Sabha polls again.
“I am telling you the truth. I had told him, ‘you do one thing, don’t contest the Lok Sabha polls. I will send you to the Rajya Sabha later. Let go of the Lok Sabha, you have to tour the whole state extensively. You and (Subrata) Bakshi’,” she said.
“Do you know what he said? I will not be a Rajya Sabha member. I will continue to fight from Diamond Harbour. Then, I realised how much he loves Diamond Harbour.”
In an interview to ABP Ananda telecast on Monday evening, Shah said personal attacks should not have taken place during the election campaign, but refused to acknowledge that his criticism of Abhishek was of that sort. “Attacks on the bhatija (nephew) are not personal. But it is all about the corruption,” he said, adding that if a nephew was brought to politics, people would talk about him.
