Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday tried to calm the nerves of her supporters by asserting there was “zero chance” of the “outsiders” coming to power and accused the sabre-rattling saffron camp of subjecting the people to April Fools’ Day round the year.
Addressing the first big political public meeting since the pandemic struck, the Trinamul Congress chief concentrated her firepower on the BJP although she described the CPM as a party of the lobhee (greedy), the BJP as bhogee (intemperate) and her own party as tyagee (self-abnegating).
“Some seem to think there is a chance for them, by chance, to come to power. Take it from me; there is zero chance….,” Mamata said.
“That is not happening…. Very soon in the future, you will have to lament that you won everywhere else in India, but Bengal denied you, shut you out. Not one corner of Bengal will reward you,” said the chief minister, jeering at the BJP over its bovine politics and condemning it over the controversies affecting Dalits, tribal people and minorities.
Mamata’s message to the party’s rank and file came in the wake of increasing chest-thumping by the BJP, including a claim by Amit Shah that his party would win more than 200 of the 294 seats in the Bengal Assembly.
“They believe in making fools of the people round the year. For them, every day is April Fools’ Day,” she said.
Calling the BJP a “curse” on the entire nation, the chief minister said Bengal in 2021 would show the way to a turnaround.
She criticised the BJP of trying to engineer defections with money. “They are inviting people from Trinamul with huge offers of money… Rs 2 crore for just joining them. MLAs are receiving calls: Rs 15 lakh as advance and then another Rs 15 lakh after the defection…. Such horse-trading is utterly shameful,” Mamata said.
The Trinamul chief, for the first time, reacted publicly to the Bihar Assembly elections and sought to de-legitimise the results.
“Was it a victory (for the NDA) in Bihar? No. It was a victory by manipulation,” she said, echoing allegations from several quarters of the non-NDA space.
A Trinamul Rajya Sabha member said Mamata had spoken to Tejashwi Yadav, who spearheaded the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar, the day after the results and lauded him for the valiant fight.
“You have kept (RJD chief) Lalu Prasad in jail for so long. Could you stop his influence? You could do nothing,” said Mamata.
“If you have the power, arrest me. I will be in prison. I will remain jailed, yet I will ensure the victory of Trinamul in Bengal. This is my challenge,” she added to thunderous applause from an audience of thousands.
The Trinamul chief revisited the bohiragawto (outsider) theme. “Outsiders are being sent to attack Bengal…. Be warned, if you trust them, they will snatch and loot everything you have, everything you hold dear,” said Mamata.
The chief minister brought up several past instances of alleged cruelty during CPM rule and said she was “ashamed” to see the state of the Left party in Bengal now, accusing it of collusion with the BJP to oust Trinamul.
“They (the CPM) think it will be saffron in 2021 and red again in 2026…. But they (the CPM) will be wiped out. The worst of the CPM are now in the BJP. Only the colours have changed, the hearts remain the same,” she said.
Mamata criticised the BJP-led Centre for its “anti-people” policies such as the farm laws and labour rules. That party is garbage… a dustbin of lies. Nothing else,” she said.
