Didi seeks ‘union of states’ to take on BJP

KOLKATA: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday borrowed from Article 1 of the Indian Constitution to propose a “union of states” to stop BJP from bulldozing state governments run by other parties.
Banerjee’s call to other opposition parties to band together to prevent BJP from “destroying federalism” and playing “dirty politics” came after a meeting at the state secretariat with Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait, who called her a “fit candidate for PM”.
Banerjee, however, underplayed the endorsement: “Forget my name. I do not want to lead it. It is a collective family, let us work together.”
“The centre did not get time to speak to farmers since January. Their movement must gain impetus and all opposition leaders should unite for that. Farmers want all opposition party CMs to hold a video conference to support them. I shall speak to our CMs. We will also issue a joint letter,”Banerjee said.
The Bengal CM questioned the Narendra Modi government’s inability to implement a coherent vaccination policy and criticised it for imposing GST on Covid vaccines, which she felt was illegal and unethical, and called the pandemic “not only a natural disaster but also a political disaster”.
“This is playing with people’s lives,” she said.
“People have been left without jobs and many have died after being denied oxygen and vaccines,” she added, questioning the centre’s delayed implementation of the vaccination drive for 18 to 44-year-olds.
“A lot of lives could have been saved. Why should the PM take credit for vaccination when the money that is being spent belongs to people and not BJP?” she said, thanking the Supreme Court for taking up the issue of free vaccination.
“Even now no one knows when vaccines will arrive,” she said.