There’s a host of reasons why Bengal needs the Trinamul Congress (TMC). First, the TMC is a Bengal-centric party; it originated in Bengal and remains confined only to Bengal. So the party is quite capable of looking after the needs and aspirations of the people of Bengal. The TMC is a relatively new party, having been set up only 23 years ago. In this time, it has borne the brunt of the actions of a very violent CPM. Many party workers have lost their lives, many more have been forced out of their homes and so on and so forth. This is common knowledge. Also, the TMC was the party that led the fight against land acquisition in both Singur and Nandigram.

The Trinamul Congress has a leader whose face is known throughout Bengal and throughout India; the TMC has the advantage of an established leadership, unlike other parties. And the need of the hour today is leadership that can fight against the authoritarian, communal regime currently at the Centre.

Keep in mind that the TMC was the first party to protest against demonetisation — a unilateral decision taken by the Centre; it also protested the hasty implementation of the GST. It has supported the farmers’ movement against the anti-farmer legislation brought in by the central government. The TMC has also protested against the riots fomented by the BJP in different parts of the country, and against the communal policies of the central government. It was at the forefront of the fight against the divisive Citizenship Amendment Act, which the TMC has said it will not allow to be implemented in Bengal.

Bengal needs a TMC government to suit the ethos of the state and its traditional exceptionalist politics. The TMC has ruled in this state for the last 10 years without excessive use of the police force and police firing. It has brought peace to the Darjeeling hills and to the erstwhile Maoist-dominated Jungle Mahal. In view of what is currently happening in Chhattisgarh, this deserves a lot of credit.

The Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government has initiated a multitude of extremely pro-people programmes. Take, for example, Kanyashree Prakalpa, which is for girls between 14 and 18 years of age; it has benefited 69 lakh girls. Under Sabooj Sathi, free cycles have been distributed to school students; it has benefited 84 lakh students.

This year, the TMC government has given Rs 10,000 each to nine lakh students of Class XII to enable them to buy smartphones so they can attend online classes during the pandemic. The Khadya Sathi Scheme is benefiting eight-and-a-half crore people with cheap — and now free — rations. The Swasthya Sathi will be benefiting the whole population of the state. The TMC government is granting a pension to all Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) people above 60 years of age, it is giving allowances to imams and muezzins of mosques and also to Brahmin purohits.

The TMC government has maintained communal peace in the state where there have been no riots. Bengal needs the TMC government for a progressive, democratic setup to further the development of the state peacefully and to take steps for enhancing employment.

The TMC has stood like a rock against the pro-capitalist policies of the central government, which is selling all public sector and government assets. Bengal needs the TMC as a beacon of light in the face of communal, capitalist and authoritarian politics unleashed by the BJP throughout the country.

All over India, elections have been done in one day, at the most in three days. Here, for some unknown reason, they conducted elections in eight phases.

Nearly 2 lakh central forces have come here. They have come from different states and they are travelling all over the state. They are spreading the coronavirus.

For the Prime Minister’s meetings, workers are coming from Gujarat and so on. That too is spreading the corona. We had requested that the last three phases be completed in one day but that did not happen. As a result, people are being infected. This is entirely the fault of the Election Commission and they have done it at the behest of the ruling party at the Centre, particularly Modi and Shah.

This has been a unique election. In the sense that in my whole life, in almost 60 years of elections, I have never seen so much pressure being brought on a state. The pressure of the central forces, the use of central agencies like the CBI, ED, and the income tax department before the elections, the high pressure campaign by the Prime Minister spending the nation’s money, the amount of money BJP used in every constituency — this is unique.

Even during national elections, I have never seen Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah visit so many times. The number of outsiders coming to the state, I have never seen this. This has become a fight between Bengalis and outsiders and I think the Bengalis will win.

We have been an exceptional state, we practise exceptionalism right from Netaji Subhas’s days, I think we will be an exception this time too.

(As told to The Telegraph)