Mamata warns BJP of ‘befitting reply’ to her ‘insult’ at Netaji ceremony
Branding the ‘Jai Shree Ram’ sloganeers as “religious fanatics” for “teasing” her in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Centre’s Parakram Diwas celebration in Victoria Memorial, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday warned the BJP of her retaliation with a “befitting reply” to her “insult” in the Assembly election.
The Trinamul Congress supremo also made it clear that she would prefer to “slit her throat” by herself instead of bowing down to the saffron party. At Purshura in Hooghly she alleged, “Netaji belongs to all. When I attended the event on him, some religious fanatics and illiterate teased me in front of the PM. How dare they? They do not know me.”
Warning the BJP of her retaliation, the angry CM said, “I will pay them back with a befitting reply through politics instead of guns. At the event I expressed gratitude on my part. Had they chanted Netaji, I would have given them a salute. Instead, they insulted Bengal and Netaji. Earlier they disrespected Rabindranath Tagore and
Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar also.”
She claimed, “As long as I live, I will fight keeping my head high. If I have to bow down, I will do it in front of the mass. Rather than bowing down to the BJP, it is better for me to slit my throat.”
Describing the TMC turncoats as “thieves”, Banerjee argued that they defected to the BJP to stash their ill-gotten wealth because they knew her party would not give them tickets this time to contest the polls.
“Some minted so much money that they are running away to the BJP in a worry to stash them. The thieves are joining BJP to wash themselves to turn white from black. Let them get converted to the BJP. We will not take them
back later. Election is barely a month away. TMC would not have given tickets to them. That is why they are fleeing in fear,” the TMC chief reasoned.
Sending a stern message to the fence-sitters, she added, “Those of you who are still in the queue to make a switch should not wait anymore. Hurry up, otherwise you will miss the train. Neither Bengal nor TMC want them. We also know whom to induct in our party. TMC will give tickets to only those who served the public. Those who have not worked for the public would not get ticket.”
Ms Banerjee, whose party was an NDA partner once, however, blamed the CPI(M) for helping the BJP to make inroads to the state.