Mamata will be left alone by poll time: Shah
KOLKATA: Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday said that West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee would be left alone in the Trinamool Congress by the time the state polls are held, even as the ruling party accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of insulting the national anthem during its rally.
“The way leaders of the Trinamool Congress, CPI(M) and Congress are joining the BJP in large numbers, by the time the election approaches, Mamata Banerjee will not be able to find anyone behind her when she looks back. There would be none to support you,” the senior BJP leader said addressing a rally in south Bengal’s Howrah district virtually.
On Saturday, five Trinamool Congress rebels joined the BJP in the presence of Shah in Delhi. The leaders included former minister and Trinamool heavyweight Rajib Banerjee.
The development came close on the heels of other resignations from the party. In December last year, senior leader Suvendu Adhikari quit the Trinamool Congress to join the BJP.
Senior BJP leaders hinted that more Trinamool leaders are likely to join the BJP over the next few days. Former TMC leader Adhikari said that the BJP will wipe out the ruling party from its bastions. “Between February 2 and February 20, we will clear Kolkata and South 24 Parganas and there would be no leaders left in the TMC,” said Adhikari at the rally on Sunday.
Reacting to the Trinamool Congress rebels joining the BJP, party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said: “These leaders have enjoyed every privilege and enjoyed all facilities over the past 10 years. Now that elections are drawing nearer, suddenly their conscience has surfaced and they are leaving the TMC, bringing all sorts of wild and baseless allegations. Where was their conscience all these years.” Shah, who cancelled his two-day trip to Bengal in the wake of the ongoing farmers’ protests in New Delhi and a low-intensity blast in the national capital on Friday, said that the condition of West Bengal has deteriorated under Trinamool government.
“In the hands of Mamata Banerjee, Bengal has deteriorated further from where the communists had left. You have pushed Bengal backwards in every sphere instead of taking it forward. Hence a wave of change is visible in Bengal today and Didi won’t be able to stop the wave,” Shah said. Accusing the Mamata Banerjee-led government of corruption, Union minister Smriti Irani, who addressed the rally in Howrah, said: “No patriotic person would want to stay in a political party which insults the slogan of Jai Shri Ram.”
The Trinamool Congress, meanwhile, said that the Centre’s ruling party was not aware of the ground realities of the state. “The BJP will not get more than 99 assembly seats in the coming elections. The home minister, instead of speaking on important issues like internal security of the country and infiltrations, is levelling baseless allegations and attacking the chief minister’s nephew. He is not aware of the ground realities of Bengal,” Trinamool MP Saugata Roy said.
A controversy has erupted in the state with the chief minister’s nephew and TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee accusing the BJP of insulting the national anthem by singing it incorrectly at Sunday’s rally.“Those preaching about Patriotism & Nationalism can’t even sing our National Anthem correctly. This is the party which claims to uphold India’s honour and pride! SHAMEFUL! Will @narendramodi @AmitShah @BJP4India apologise for this “Anti-National” Act? #BJPInsultsNationalAnthem,” he tweeted, along with a video of BJP leaders singing the national anthem at the rally in Howarh’s Dumurjala.
The Left front in the state also hit out at the BJP after the incident. “I had once challenged BJP parliamentarians during the UPA-I tenure. I had said in Parliament that if any of them (BJP leaders) can sing the first eight lines of Vande Mataram, I would resign. There was silence for two minutes. None accepted the challenge,” said Md Salim, leader of Communist Party of India (Marxist). The West Bengal Congress Committee tweeted: “#WrongNationalAnthem On the 46th second of the video “janganamangal dayak” was sung as “janganamangal adhinayak” in BJP’s party hopping meet in Howrah today. What action to be taken against this insult to the national anthem? @INCIndia @adhirrcinc @JitinPrasada.”
The BJP, however, refuted the allegations. “There were two Union ministers, at least three former ministers who were earlier in the TMC, several eminent personalities. No one would believe that all of them together sang the National Anthem wrongly. The TMC is doing politics with the National Anthem as it had earlier done with the name of Lord Ram and Netaji. People won’t accept such politics,” said Samik Bhattacharya, BJP spokesperson in the state.
UNION HOME MINISTER
...By the time the election approaches, Mamata Banerjee will not be able to find anyone behind her when she back.