Kolkata/IBNS: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who was on a two-day sit-in protest (dharna) in Kolkata against Centre’s policies, Thursday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi government and urged for opposition’s unity against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“Since I have called for the opposition parties to unite against BJP, we have been termed as ‘corrupt’. Are all of us corrupt and only BJP is a saint? They (BJP) will finish this country. In the coming days, it will be BJP vs citizens of India,” Banerjee said.
Alleging that the BJP is bulldozing India’s democracy, “We will not keep quiet if you bulldoze the democracy of this country. We are ready to give you (BJP) a befitting reply. Apply your law and we will apply citizen’s law. We will abide by our respected constitution. In our democratic country, the public has the last word.”
Banerjee even dared the BJP to stop her if she decided to go to Delhi with all regional parties.
“Even we can go to Delhi with the pictures of our prominent leaders and freedom fighters on the occasion of Independence Day. You think you can stop us?”
Banerjee said the BJP government is “misusing” the central agencies against all opposition parties and “harassing” them.
“If someone speaks against BJP, they are put behind the bars or disqualified from the House. If someone criticises BJP, they are harassed using ED-CBI. International press outlets like BBC are also showing BJP’s true face. I am with the country and I don’t want anyone talking against our country,” she said.
Banerjee said she is not allowed to do anything on her own when in Delhi.
“They do not allow anything in Delhi and whenever I visit, they post four officials in front of my house. Whenever I go to other countries, they pay people to protest against me saying I presided over genocide in Bengal. Should no action be taken against this?
“But if someone goes to another country and says that he is not able to use his democratic rights, he is punished. Why this attitude towards Opposition leaders?”
Speaking on BJP’s corruption charges in Bengal, Banerjee said: “They imposed 2-3 cases here in Bengal claiming that Trinamool is corrupt. But this was the work of the Coordination Committee that was responsible for hiring people through chirkuts. There are no files for this particular period.”
“We have said this before – Badla Noy, Badal Chay (we want change and not revenge). The protesters are saying they will not come to work. But they keep forgetting that they are obstructing the work and wasting taxpayers’ money. I am not talking about everyone but a handful number of people who are doing this,” he said.
Slamming the central probe agencies, the Bengal CM said: “ED-CBI is like BJP’s child, which they carry everywhere. We have not seen a proper trial in the Vyapam Case. Around 50 people associated with the scam were murdered. If the same thing would have happened in Bengal, they would have defamed us. Even if a chocolate bomb explodes here, NIA is sent.”
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