Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said the BJP should quit the Centre after a suggestive social media post by Narendra Modi attacked the anti-BJP INDIA bloc on the Quit India Movement anniversary.
In her 50-minute address at a state government event in Jhargram, the Bengal chief minister pulled no punches in her offensive on the saffron regime.
“Our freedom fighters had forced the British to leave. We had wanted Independence (from the British Raj)… but we got a government at the Centre that makes the lives of the masses miserable,” said Mamata, bringing up a number of issues pertaining to the various adverse impacts of frozen welfare and relief funds due to Bengal from the Centre, and Delhi’s mismanagement of the economy that have worsened the plight of the common man.
“Ours is a movement. It is against the deprivation perpetuated by this Centre. We had made the British colonists leave, with the clarion call of Bharat Chhodo (Quit India). Now, we are telling the same to this Centre, to leave its seat of power at Delhi. BJP, your turn to quit,” added the Trinamul Congress chief to thunderous applause from an audience of thousands. “They really do not have the right to remain in power…. They have betrayed (the people).”
The Quit India Movement, or the Bharat Chhodo Andolan, was a movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi on August 9, 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule in India. Almost the entire leadership of the Congress was imprisoned without trial within hours of Gandhi’s speech, and stayed incarcerated till the end of the war, in 1945.
Foremost among those who backed the British crackdown on the movement was the Hindu Mahasabha, an ideological predecessor of the BJP.
In the morning, along with a video, Modi had posted on social media a brief statement in commemoration of the Quit India Movement anniversary.
“Tributes to the greats who took part in the Quit India Movement. Under the leadership of Gandhi Ji, this Movement played a major role in freeing India from colonial rule. Today, India is saying in one voice: Corruption Quit India. Dynasty Quit India. Appeasement Quit India,” he had written.
Given his recent diatribe against the anti-BJP bloc of INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance), in which there was suggestive wordplay on the name of the alliance, the Prime Minister was apparently carrying on from where he had left off.
But Mamata would have none of it.
“I hereby tell the Centre, you will not and cannot wish us away, as we too are people of the country. If they now say ‘Mamata Banerjee should quit India’, it’s in vain, because I am not going anywhere. This is my nation, my motherland. I was born here,” she said.
“Whereas you, the BJP… do not love India or its people…. INDIA is not just another name, it is a movement, it is history, it is Gandhiji’s dream,” added the chief minister. “The BJP’s politics is that of bloodshed…. Removing the BJP government is my only goal now, for the welfare of the people.”
She went on to demand answers on Modi’s unfulfilled pre-poll promises, accusing him of making pledges that he never wishes to fulfill.
Mamata also attacked the saffron regime over attempts to have the uniform civil code implemented in India, affirming her stand against it, as it goes against the spirit of the nation’s unity in diversity that the Constitution seeks to protect.
Then, the Trinamul chief tore into Modi over the inherently oppressive nature of the saffron regime.
“Dalits are being oppressed across the country, from Uttar Pradesh to Madhya Pradesh… they are being humiliated in ways I cannot even begin to describe, for the sake of civility. Manipur has been ablaze for over three months. Yet, this Centre remains unmoved,” she said.
