Kolkata, Feb. 16 -- With the political temperature rising in poll-bound Bengal and campaign activity gaining momentum across both the Opposition and the ruling party, Trinamool Congress chairperson and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday asserted that her party would return to power for a fourth consecutive term, setting the tone for an increasingly high-voltage electoral battle in the state.
Speaking to a vernacular television channel, Mamata Banerjee also went down memory lane, recalling her multiple terms as an MP, her interactions with former Prime Ministers Rajiv Gandhi, PV Narasimha Rao and VP Singh, besides sharing small instances about her interaction with former Chief Minister Jyoti Basu.
Asserting that TMC would return to power with a bigger mandate, Banerjee accused the BJP of perpetrating atrocities against people of Bengal across communities, including SCs, STs, OBCs and Kamtapuri sections, and said the saffron camp would be given a befitting reply in the forthcoming Assembly elections.
Referring to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Banerjee launched a sharp attack on the BJP-led Centre and the Election Commission of India (ECI), saying: "I raised several pertinent issues while meeting the ECI, including the arbitrary deletion of names of women who changed their surnames after marriage. Many people go outside the state for jobs, and many change their residences, and these are being shown as discrepancies. Names of voters belonging to various communities, including Matuas and Kamtapuri, are being deleted, and minorities are also being targeted. The way people are being tortured, they will give a suitable reply to the BJP in the elections."
Dubbing the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) "arrogant", Mamata Banerjee said she had taken representatives of SCs and STs, including BLAs, who she claimed had become victims of the unplanned implementation of the SIR, but "their concerns were not properly addressed".
Taking a potshot at the ECI, Banerjee further alleged that the poll panel was transferring officers at will, and questioned "how she would continue to run her government if such actions were to persist". The Trinamool supremo accused the BJP of pushing a "destructive" political narrative in Bengal. She alleged that the BJP-led Centre was unleashing "psychological torture" on her party and government by blocking funds and spreading canards, and said the situation was such that the ruling TMC seemed as if it were the Opposition in the state.
Lamenting the decline in political courtesy, the first woman Chief Minister of Bengal said: "There is no decency in politics now. People are scared to speak their mind as surveillance is being carried out."
She added that despite having been subjected to atrocities during the Left Front regime, she did not seek revenge after coming to power in 2011.
Banerjee was first elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) in 1984. She won the Jadavpur seat at the age of 29, becoming one of India's youngest parliamentarians at the time by defeating veteran communist leader Somnath Chatterjee. She then created history by becoming the first woman CM of Bengal in 2011 by ending the 34-year Left rule.
Reacting to the Congress announcement of not forging any alliance with the Left parties, Banerjee said the Congress had always maintained an understanding with the Left in the past and that the present stand was no different. Describing Congress's call to fight without the Left as mere eyewash, Banerjee cited several past instances to underline how the Congress and the Left parties had worked in tacit understanding earlier.
Reminiscing about her past interactions with former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu, Banerjee made a startling remark that Basu had grown unhappy with the then government during the tenure of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee as CM.
"I visited Basu's house a couple of times. In the fag end of his life he used to persuade me to visit his house. One day, when I went to him, Basu asked me when the then government would be out of power," Banerjee said.
She further recalled that after the Left was voted out of power, she had visited the residence of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Banerjee also said she went to the crematorium when the wife of Jyoti Basu passed away, and noted that there were hardly any people present at the time.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.