Lashing out at the CPI-M for “indulging in anti-alliance activities which would end up strengthening the hands of the BJP” in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, for the first time, expressed her disappointment with the INDIA alliance platform of which she has remained one of the staunchest promoters.
“I suggested the name INDIA, but when I attend its meetings I see the Left controlling them and I don’t get the respect I deserve there,” Banerjee said at a public meeting at the Park Circus Maidan on Monday. The meeting was held as the culmination to a Banerjee-led five-kilometer long harmony march for people of all faiths which the Bengal chief minister had planned as response to the Ram Mandir consecration ceremony in Ayodhya where Prime Minister Narendra Modi stole the media spotlight for a large part of the day.
Banerjee, who began her march at 3 PM after offering her prayers at the Kali Temple at Kalighat, also visited and offered her prayers at a gurdwara, a church and a mosque that dotted her Hazra Park-Park Circus Maidan route which she covered in under two hours.
“I will not take any advice from the Left who I have fought all my life,” Banerjee said during her speech. “All I asked was that the strong regional parties should be allowed to fight on their own and that the BJP should be taken on one on one in at least 300 seats. But they say they will do whatever pleases them. I warn them not to do anything which will end up strengthening the BJP. You will not be forgiven if you help the BJP in winning the elections,” the chief minister declared.
“I fight the BJP because I have power to do so. But some people don't want to listen to us on seat sharing,” she complained.
Ostensibly referring to the Congress and Rahul Gandhi, Banerjee added: “How many politicians today have taken the BJP head on? Somebody went to one temple and thought it was sufficient... but that doesn't happen. I am the only one who visited a temple, a gurdwara, a church and a mosque today.”
“I have been fighting (communal disharmony) for a long time. When Babri demolition took place sparking nation-wide violence, I was on the streets fighting them. I even approached then chief minister Jyoti Basu and offered my help. I cared little for my life and distributed relief material among the affected. They may have forgotten all that now,” Banerjee continued with her salvo against the Left.
Banerjee took the opportunity to take simultaneous potshots at the BJP and a section of media for creating a “frenzy” over the Ram Temple consecration. “A look at TV channels this morning and it seems that the country is fighting a freedom struggle,” Banerjee’s sarcasm was hard to miss. “I wonder what will happen from tomorrow,” she added.
Criticizing “huge expenses” incurred for the consecration, the Trinamul supremo said: “The deprive people of money for food, house and roads. They take tax payers’ money away from the state and today they have put up a dazzling show of the inauguration with giant LED screens. I tell them they shouldn’t sacrifice the poor in the name of religion.”
“I have my utmost respect for both Ram and Sita. But they never utter the name of Sita. Are they anti women? There would not have been a Ram without a Sita who accompanied him to the forest, without Kashalya who gave birth to him. Yet Sita had to enter Pataal to pass her chastity test,” Banerjee said.
Speaking ahead of the leader, party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said: “Koi Kehta hain Hindu khatre me hai, Koi kehta hain Musalmaan khatre me hai....main kehta hu Dharam ka chashma hata ke dekho...poora Hindustan khatre me hain” (Some are saying the Hindus are in danger, while others are saying Muslims are threatened. I tell them remove the glasses of religion from your eyes… and you’ll find that the entire country is in danger).
The Trinamul MP found himself getting a pat on his back from her aunt for his earlier post on X handle where he stated: “My RELIGION has not taught me to accept and embrace a place of worship, whether it be a MANDIR, MASJID, CHURCH or GURUDWARA, which has been built over HATRED, VIOLENCE and the dead bodies of innocents. Period!”
“I endorse what Abhishek has said in his post because the lives which have been lost to get this temple built cannot be forgotten,” Didi said. “I tell those who are trying to divide people on the basis of religion, it’s easy to light a fire but extremely difficult to douse a flame.”
“This fight has only just begun. This fight will continue. It’s the cowards who die. The brave fight and continue to live,” she said and chanted slogans for harmony of religions.
