Chief minister Mamata Banerjee confronted the media on Tuesday by accusing some television news channels and newspapers of trying to change the perception of Bengal but chose not to mention names or cite some of the recent incidents that have been hogging the headlines like the murder of student-activist Anis Khan, protests at Deucha-Pachami and the alleged civic poll violence.
“A section of the media is trying to change the perception of Bengal. Any incident is unfortunate. It is important to see if the action has been taken or not. Some are provoking,” said Mamata while addressing party leaders at the extended state committee meeting held at Nazrul Mancha.
The meeting assumes significance as Prashant Kishor, the election strategist, was seen sharing the dais with Mamata after a long gap.
“The other day someone claimed the Kamduni rape victim’s family members have lost their jobs. I checked the next day, four members have been given jobs. If someone utters a lie on a channel, it becomes the channel’s responsibility (to deny it). Don’t play with fire for the sake of target rating point (TRP),” said Mamata. “If you have TRP, we have our voices. We will go and tell the people they are doing such news to increase their TRP.”
Without naming any individual member of the media, Mamata made it clear she was well aware of their “activities”.
“If their records are made public, they will run with their tails between their legs. The kind of things that they have done, I know everything. If you were in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, CPM-ruled Kerala or Tripura, would you have such freedom of expression?” asked the chief minister.
At the meeting, Mamata also set the agenda for party leaders for the Lok Sabha polls.
“Bengal will show the way. If the BJP has to be defeated in 2024, then we will have to start preparing from now. Turn every household into a stronghold,” Mamata said.
From May 5 onwards _ the day marks one year of her taking oath as chief minister of West Bengal (despite losing in Nandigram) _ the Trinamul Congress will launch a public relations drive that will be held in three phases. The first phase begins from May 5 and will be held till July 21, the most important date in Trinamul’s calendar. The second phase will be held after July 21 till the Durga Puja and the third after the festive season.
As a part of the PR overdrive, Trinamul leaders will have to organise exhibitions and spread the message on what the government has done for different sections of society like students, women.
She also asked the party MPs and MLAs to pool in resources, citing paucity of funds to organise different events. "The MPs can take charge of some people. The MLAs get to travel free in trains and buses, most of them own personal vehicles. We do not have much resources. We have to pool,” she said.
Mamata also instructed MLAs to attend the ongoing budget session of the Assembly.
"The absence of even one MLA can result in the fall of the government,” she said.
