Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said the Opposition INDIA bloc existed nationally, but outside Bengal’s borders.

The Bengal chief minister’s stern statement indicated she was running out of patience over the delay in the progress of seat-sharing discussions, for which Trinamul had set a December 31 deadline.

“Why is there so much vanity, so much arrogance today? INDIA will be there across India, and in Bengal it will be the Trinamul Congress fighting the good fight,” said Mamata to loud cheers at a Trinamul workers’ meeting in Deganga, North 24-Parganas.

“Remember, only the Trinamul Congress can teach the BJP a lesson in Bengal. It can show the way to the rest of the nation; no other party can do so.”

Mamata’s comments came after the nine days following the Opposition alliance’s December 19 meeting in Delhi witnessed practically no headway on seat-sharing talks, in Bengal or elsewhere.

Mamata, who has since the start been advocating faster movement on a seat-sharing formula, had proposed at the December 19 meeting that all such negotiations be wrapped up and the arrangements finalised by December 31.

"Today's statement makes it clear that Didi is hardening her stand," a source close to the Trinamul chief said.

Mamata’s statement comes a day after the state Congress leadership disowned Bengal party veteran Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury’s comment that Mamata was committed to leaving Malda South and Behrampore (seats the Congress had won in 2019), as part of a seat-sharing arrangement.

The CPM and the Congress, both INDIA constituents, have been at daggers drawn with Mamata in Bengal, their hostility towards her often surpassing the BJP’s in the state’s Opposition space.

Since the December 19 meeting, the CPM has repeatedly ruled out any negotiations with Mamata in Bengal while the Congress’s state unit has bristled at suggestions of any truck with her.

“The CPM, the Congress and the BJP have hit the streets together. Every day they are conducting rallies, and calling everyone a thief,” an exasperated Mamata said at Deganga.

At the December 19 INDIA meeting, Mamata had said she was willing to engage in seat talks with the Congress in Bengal.

She had said she was ready, even before the talks, to give the Congress the two Bengal seats it holds and expected the party to reciprocate by leaving one seat each from Assam and Meghalaya to Trinamul. She had made it clear that she was open to dialogue and not averse to being a considerate ally in the negotiations.

The very next day, state Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and other Bengal leaders, such as Deepa Das Munshi, said they could not even in their “worst nightmare” imagine an alliance with Mamata in Bengal.

The Bengal Congress not only wants equidistance from the BJP and Mamata, it is also keen on contesting at least seven of the nine seats where it believes it has still some organisational presence.

Besides Behrampore and Malda South, these are Murshidabad, Jangipur, Malda North, Raiganj, Darjeeling, Purulia and Basirhat.

The Congress believes that while the Trinamul chief is unlikely to yield anything beyond Raiganj -- besides Malda South and Behrampore --- the CPM could be far more accommodating.

“The Congress and the Left are nothing but a spent force in Bengal.… Didi was graceful in saying she doesn’t have any problems taking them along in her fight against the BJP,” a Trinamul source said.

“Look at the way they reacted. Didi made it clear that we don’t need them.”

In her Deganga address, Mamata was unsparing on the BJP.

“There have been many (Union) governments in the past, never before did such things take place. Today, you have seen in Parliament, around 150 (146) MPs have been suspended by them. Has it ever happened before in India? Unprecedented. What is going on is tyranny, terror,” she said.

“You have seen the kind of atrocities unleashed on (Muslims), on Christians, on Dalits, on tribals… across the nation. This atrocity has to be stopped. For that, I give the clarion call from here and now….

“Across India… only this democracy of (federal investigative) agencies is under way, of misusing agencies. Leaders are heard saying: ‘Make more arrests, otherwise victory won’t be possible’. Arrey! You are here today, gone tomorrow. Then you will see, you will be left with a head but no tail --- a tail without a head.”

CPM state secretary Md Salim alleged that Mamata’s comment made it clear that she had reached an understanding with the RSS.

“This is why we keep saying that our fight, with equal force, is with Trinamul and the BJP, within Bengal and outside,” he said.

“The Congress is free to take its own decisions, but they ought to have learned their lessons the hard way, from her betrayals as an ally in the past.”

The Congress’s chief spokesperson for Bengal, Soumya Aich Roy, virtually echoed Salim, alleging Trinamul and the BJP were “political twins”. “As our state president (Adhir) keeps saying, Trinamul is as lethal for Bengal as the BJP is for the nation. They are in a secret entente,” he said.

“She (Mamata) has been on the lookout for excuses to abandon INDIA and strengthen the BJP. Trinamul can never be earnest, genuine in the fight against the BJP.”