Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee sniffs politics in the colour of the Indian cricket team jersey for the men’s World Cup squad.
“They are adding saffron colour to everything. We are proud of our Indian players. And I believe they will be world champions this time. Even their practice dress has been coloured saffron. The players put up a fight to wear their blue outfits,” Banerjee, referring to the India team practice jersey designed for this edition of the World Cup, said at the inauguration programme of The Posta Bazar Merchants Association-organized Jagaddhatri Puja on Thursday afternoon.
Slamming the BJP-led Centre for its “tendency to advertise”, Banerjee said: “You must have noticed they are painting the upcoming Metro Rail stations in the city saffron.”
“We do all the work and they take credit by means of advertisements. If they had given the money allocated for advertisements to our workers of this country, then the deprived 100-day workers would not have had to shed tears today,” the chief minister, referring to the Union government, maintained.
“Except for Mayavati who built her own statues, I have never heard or seen anyone doing such things,” Banerjee said. “But the current dispensation has made this a regular habit, doing things in the name of Na-Moste. That’s not a Namaste for the people. This cannot go on for long.”
“I don’t mind if you do things in the name of the country or in the name of a Gujarati leader who is accepted as a leader of the whole nation. You can choose such leaders from UP, Bihar, Rajasthan or form south Indian states. But what is this thing? This isn’t a thing to eat. It’s a thing to show. Showpieces can give you temporary dividends but not permanent benefits. People on chairs will come and go,” the chief minister sounded cryptic.
She continued: “They are selling off this country. I have information that more than 70,000 industrialists have quit this country. These were people who could have invested in this country, but their money is now getting invested abroad.”
“I will hence say that let good sense prevail (among the leaders of the central government),” she concluded.
