Mamata Banerjee. (File) Accusing the BJP of replicating the “Tripura model of defections” to win the elections, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday urged people to listen to former Tripura chief minister Manik Sakar’s “warnings” who at a rally in Bardhaman had said that the poor in Tripura are now realising the “blunder they have committed by voting BJP to power”.
Addressing a meeting of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe workers of the party in Kolkata, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee quoted veteran CPI(M) leader Manik Sakar and said: “Manik babu [Manik Sarkar] is saying go to Tripura and see what the BJP has done there… The BJP is trying to replicate the Tripura-model in Bengal… I feel sad that many from the Congress joined the BJP in Tripura. The BJP is trying to adopt the same formula in Bengal. They want to come to power by taking some people who have betrayed us.”
“The BJP did not give jobs it had promised to the people of Tripura. On the contrary, it has oppressed the people of the state,” she added.
While addressing a rally in Bardhaman in West Bengal two days ago, Manik Sarkar had said, “Take a train to Tripura, talk to rickshaw-pullers and grocers and learn from them what blunder they have committed by voting the BJP to power”.
Accusing the BJP of “selling off” the country, Banerjee said the party, which has destroyed ‘Sonar Bharat’ (golden India), is now talking of creating ‘Sonar Bangla’, and added that people are suffering in BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Assam and Tripura.
Dismissing BJP’s claims of being an alternative to Trinamool, Banerjee said there is no alternative to Trinamool Congress and no other party can take its place in the state. “Only the Trinamool Congress is the alternative to the Trinamool Congress, it will go for bettering itself. No other party can take its place since it has provided the most people-friendly government in the world,” she added.
She also hit out at the defectors, saying, “People respect Siraj ud-Daulah, but not traitor Mir Jafar.” “Those who resort to violence and have ill-gotten wealth go to the BJP to save their money. Nobody goes to BJP out of love,” she added.
Urging people belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Tribes to support her party in the coming elections, she said, “They have taken many seats from you in Jangalmahal and north Bengal, they have got all MPs from the region, but have they given anything?”
At the beginning of the meeting, Banerjee lost her temper as some people in the audience started shouting and making some demands. A visibly-peeved chief minister stopped her speech midway. “I am not God. How much do you want? I have given everything. Don’t try to blackmail me before the elections. I am a streetfighter… I do my best to be humane. I have worked tirelessly for the last few years. Tell me what else you want!”
However, at the end of the meeting, she heard about their demands and assured to fulfil them.