Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday jeered at the BJP, accusing it of trembling with fear since the declaration of the INDIA alliance from Bangalore, suggesting the saffron camp — allegedly ever-busy with toppling non-BJP governments — has now realised that its own government at the Centre would soon be toppled.
The Trinamul Congress chief — who on Tuesday named the national Opposition alliance of 26 parties INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) in Bangalore — mocked the saffron regime during a brief interaction with journalists at the SSKM Hospital here in the evening.
In response to questions on the recent remarks by several state leaders of the BJP, including state unit chief Sukanta Majumdar, setting a five-month deadline for the toppling of her state government, Mamata said: “First, let them topple a bucket. Then, they can aspire to set bigger goals for themselves.”
“They have absolutely no work. Their government (at the Centre) has already been toppled…. You (the BJP) have been trembling out of fear since yesterday (Tuesday),” she added, on her way out of the hospital, where she met some victims of panchayat polls-related violence from Nandigram — the Assembly constituency of her bete noire, the BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari — and distributed compensation cheques of Rs 50,000 each (for those injured enough to require hospitalisation).
The taunt was apparently part of a wider strategy from the INDIA leadership, as remarks not very dissimilar were heard from leaders of the Congress, JDU, RJD, and the AAP. All of them attributed to the alleged fear that led to the long overdue NDA meeting, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scathing offensive against INDIA.
Sources in Trinamul said Mamata was mighty pleased with how INDIA has apparently gotten under the skin of Modi and his regime.
“There were fairly obvious signs around the Patna meeting last month, that they are losing sleep over losing power, already… right up to Modi. Things they have been doing and saying around the Bangalore meeting, and the announcement of INDIA, now leave little to the imagination,” said a senior Trinamul MP.
In Bengal, besides the five-month deadline, premature felling of the Trinamul-led government has also been hinted at with suggestions of an Eknath Shinde-esque mutiny, and the invocation of Article 355 (gives the Centre the power to take over the law and order machinery of a state temporarily to protect it “against external aggression and internal disturbance”).
Elected with a five-year mandate that ends in the summer of 2026, Trinamul effectively has 222 MLAs in the 294-seat Bengal Assembly, at the moment, while the BJP has 70.
In a rhetorical question, Mamata asked what was left for the BJP to do other than make such lofty, outlandish claims on the longevity of her state government in Bengal.
“Those that have no work, no productive way to spend time, other than slander, violence, disintegration, polarisation, ensuring bloodshed,” she said.
“That is why, remember, the people will take revenge. What revenge? Through peaceful elections, INDIA will face the battle,” added the chief minister.
In the wake of the panchayat elections getting marred by countless complaints violence and vitiation of the poll atmosphere, sections of the BJP have started testing such Operation Lotus-like waters again, by raising such demands.
Underscoring the fact that the majority of those killed through the panchayat poll season in Bengal were from Trinamul, Mamata squarely placed the blame for much of it on the BJP’s shoulders and lambasted its political programmes in protest of that very violence.
“I came to SSKM Hospital to meet the victims of those who bore the brunt of the attacks from BJP goons in Nandigram and Khejuri. The violence that has been perpetrated by the BJP in the state is condemnable,” said Mamata.
