Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan, in Calcutta to campaign for Trinamul Congress candidates, on Monday backed Mamata Banerjee’s fight to preserve the democratic rights of the people of Bengal and said she didn’t want her religion and democracy to be “hijacked”.
“I want to say, do not hijack my religion from me. Do not. Never. Do not hijack my democracy and my democratic right from me. And when I say, me, I represent all the people. And that is why I’m here because Mamata Banerjee is fighting, struggling, a single lady to preserve democratic rights of every individual of Bengal,” Bachchan said at a news meet at Trinamul headquarters.
Bachchan also said Bengal would develop more if Mamata continued to be the state’s chief minister.
To the people who criticise Mamata, Bachchan said: “Lojja! Lojja! (shame, shame).”
“…Love and respect for Mamataji, for a single woman who is fighting against all atrocities. Head broken, leg broken, but they have not been able to break her heart and brain and her determination to move ahead and make Bengal one of the best in the world,” Bachchan added.
The actress and Padma Shri awardee, popular for her work in both Bengali and Hindi films, introduced herself first as Jaya Bachchan and then said her maiden name was Bhaduri. She mentioned that she is the daughter of Tarun Kumar Bhaduri, an eminent journalist and writer. “We are probashi (expatriate) Bangali, but Bangali,” she said. The intention behind this introduction was to woo the Bengali sentiment, the biggest weapon Trinamul leaders are engaging in this 2021 polls, sources said.
During her six-minute odd news meet, Bachchan not for once mentioned the BJP by name, but kept hinting at the saffron camp’s flaws. Pointing at women journalists present, she said, “(Bengal is the) safest state in the country for women. One doesn’t need to say much about it. You all will understand yourselves what I’m saying.”
Trinamul sources said that Bachchan was referring to the continuous atrocities women face in Uttar Pradesh, the state that she represents in the Rajya Sabha.
“Jayadi campaigning for us serves two purposes. First, Bengalis still connect with her. Second, she is a woman and represents UP, which is the epitome of the collective failure of the administration (of the BJP government),” a Trinamul source said.
Bachchan also thanked her party chief Akhilesh Yadav for supporting Mamata and giving her, Bachchan, the opportunity to campaign for Trinamul. Later, she campaigned for Aroop Biswas, Trinamul’s candidate for the Tollygunge Assembly seat. Her campaigns will continue on Tuesday and Wednesday as well.
She is also being pitted as Trinamul’s reply to BJP’s star campaigner, actor Mithun Chakraborty, who earlier was a Trinamul MP to the Rajya Sabha, but switched sides and joined the BJP last month. His campaign rallies have been drawing large crowds.
“No one can be an answer to someone,” countered the BJP’s state chief Dilip Ghosh. “Yes, she (Bachchan) was popular and liked by people in Bengal once upon a time. But that is not important now. What has she done for Bengal in recent times? Mithunda on the other hand has done a lot of work (for Bengal).”
