Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday urged all non-BJP parties across the country to eject Narendra Modi from power in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, which she labelled as “the election of change”.

The appeal came in a nine-minute video which the chief minister issued on the second anniversary of the declaration of Assembly election results that had handed her a thumping majority for the third consecutive term at the helm of Bengal.

In the video posted on social media, Mamata thanked and congratulated the people, while urging wider Opposition unity across the nation.

“This country, I have to say, needs change. The general election of 2024 will be an election of change. If in 12 years (in power in the state), we could do so much for the people and save the state from the clutches of a tortuous government (the erstwhile Left regime), then why could the BJP not do anything in their 10-year tenure?” said the Trinamul Congress chairperson in the message.

“(They have been busy)… changing history, participating in jumla (means a figure of speech, but now considered synonymous with gimmickry) politics, torture, terror, demonetisation, atrocities in the name of (the citizenship matrix), why should we support this government?” she asked.

In the message, Mamata was bitterly critical of the saffron camp’s alleged activities in Bengal and how it had been running the nation. “On this occasion… I request all Opposition parties to come together and unite forces in this fight against the BJP. If we all unite, I am sure the BJP will lose power this time,” she said.

“There is no power on earth that can overcome the people’s might. The people are our first and last choice,” she added.

The chief minister is firmly in favour of the 1:1 formula, which translates into a strongest non-BJP candidate being fielded against the BJP in as many of the 543 Lok Sabha seats as possible.

The Trinamul chief has been pitching the 1:1 formula for a while, questioning the BJP’s very ability to win the polls next year, dismissing the meticulously crafted and religiously protected perception of the invincibility of the Narendra Modi regime. She takes the example of 11 states — accounting for 271 Lok Sabha seats — where the BJP, according to her, is unlikely to fare well.

“We are fighting against money-power, muscle-power, mafia-power, and an atrocious, terrible government at the Centre. Despite this, I want to say that Bengal has never lost and it never will. We will always keep our heads high, bowing before none but the people, who are everything in a democracy,” said the Trinamul chief.

Since the middle of March, Mamata has held parleys with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, BJD chief Naveen Patnaik, JDS leader H.D. Kumaraswamy, JDU chief Nitish Kumar and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav. She had telephone discussions with DMK chief M.K. Stalin, JMM leader Hemant Soren and BRS chief K. Chandrashekar Rao.

Till the saffron regime’s manoeuvres to have Rahul Gandhi disqualified as a member of the Lok Sabha, Mamata had been pitching firmly for equidistance from the BJP and the Congress. Since his disqualification, she has, however, been showing signs of recalibration of her approach of untouchability towards the Congress.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mamata had made a tweet.

“We should continue in our effort and commitment towards nation building as many more battles are to be fought & won together,” she tweeted, extolling the people of Bengal for handing the BJP an electoral debacle in 2021.

In her video message, the chief minister jeered at the saffron ecosystem’s hubbub over the 100th episode of the Prime Minister's Mann Ki Baat on Sunday.

“The Prime Minister conducts Mann Ki Baat, but in reality, it is Jhoot Ki Baat (lies). All that the BJP government has done in these many years is rewrite history, engage in jumla politics, spread terror, and torture people in the name of (the citizenship tripod),” she said, questioning some of the promises made by the BJP in its Karnataka manifesto.

She mounted yet another attack on the Centre for withholding the funds for Bengal.

“I have only one principal anguish remaining. After the 34-year of misrule by the Left Front, I had hoped we would have cordial ties with a sympathetic central government. But that did not happen. We have not received any assistance — not charity, but our right — from Delhi,” she said, going on to elaborately underscore her government’s “achievements” since Trinamul's ascent to power in 2011.