Mamata Banerjee on Friday launched a broadside against the BJP, the Congress and the Left Front over the deployment of central forces for the panchayat polls, accusing the Opposition of maligning Bengal in the name of "one or two incidents".
The Trinamul Congress chief, who attended a party event at Kakdwip of South 24-Parganas alongside nephew Abhishek Banerjee, tore into the BJP, the CPM, the Congress, and even the ISF, accusing them of having united forces against her.
After listing a large number of welfare measures and development initiatives by her government at the state – repeatedly implying that a subpar performance for Trinamul in the rural polls would affect the service delivery at the grassroots – the chief minister brought up the subject of central forces.
“Who all are saying these things… ‘give central forces across Bengal’? Bam-Ram-Shyam (by that, she usually means the CPM, the BJP, and the Congress, respectively), and some goons. These four parties have united forces, to go and complain every single day. Trinamul doing this, doing that…,” said a visibly agitated Mamata, under whom the state’s ruling dispensation had fought to the finish in 2013, against the then state election commissioner Mira Pande’s attempts to have central forces deployed for the rural polls.
“I ask the almighty to forgive them, for their many follies. Let them abuse and malign me as much as they please, but my humble request is that they stop maligning Bengal, that I simply cannot tolerate, it hurts me a great deal,” she added.
In 2013, Mamata had to yield to a Supreme Court order in favour of Pande. This time – unless she can get the order overturned by the apex court – she has to yield to a high court order in favour of petitions by the Congress and the BJP, among others. Sources said that the state government, along with the poll panel, is planning to move the Supreme Court against the high court order.
“Central forces were deployed for panchayat elections in Bengal in 2013, how many deaths? Thirty-nine. In 2003, during the CPM regime, 70 deaths. In 2008, also during the CPM regime, 36 deaths. Remember these numbers,” said the Trinamul chief.
Despite her pugnacious reaction to the court’s decision, she conspicuously avoided even oblique references to the judiciary, while even blaming the Narendra Modi government at the Centre for its alleged preparedness to pounce on every Bengal opportunity.
“Two incidents in total, out of tens of thousands of booths… in those incidents, it was our colleagues who died. But despite that, this Union government is ever ready, ‘beat the people up with rods, hit them with bullets, bring central forces everywhere in Bengal’,” said the chief minister.
“Simply for two incidents, they said ‘come one, come all, bring your swords and shields’…. Knyachkola korbey (You will be able to do zilch), even with your entire armoury,” she added. “Central forces were used in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, what difference do they make (to the results)?”
The Trinamul chief urged the Bengal electorate to ensure that candidates of the four main non-Trinamul parties have their deposits forfeited, especially urging women to form the first lines of defence against central forces, encouraging them to stand up fearlessly to their “atrocities”.
