Cong, Left target TMC, BJP during Bengal rally
KOLKATA: Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Sunday sharpened attack on the ruling Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party at the CPI(M)’S first mega rally with coalition partners in pollbound West Bengal.
Addressing the rally, Yechury urged the people to defeat both the TMC and the BJP. “Many people ask me what we will do if the poll verdict leads to a hung assembly. I ask them to pose the question to chief minister Mamata Banerjee because she has forged an alliance with the BJP several times. Don’t be surprised if she joins hands with the BJP again to save her seat. We won’t be able to save India unless we defeat both.”
Bengal Congress president Adhir Chowdhury, CPI(M) politburo member Md Salim, Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary D Raja, Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel and Indian Secular Front (ISF) leader Abbasuddin Siddiqui were also present at the rally.
In his speech, Chowdhury attacked Modi and chief minister Mamata Banerjee for allegedly “strangling democracy”. “Modi and Mamata Banerjee have the same political DNA. Both have strangled democracy. Both want to silence the opposition, he said.
Siddiqui, meanwhile, pledged support to the Left front. After the rally, the TMC and the BJP hit out the coalition partners.
“Siddiqui’s presence and the speeches we heard made it quite clear what sort of a secularism the new allies represent. Not once did we hear the Vande Mataram slogan. People of Bengal have received the message,” said Samik Bhattacharya, chief spokesperson of the Bengal BJP.
“The Left could hold the rally because it has its cadres but a rally is not equal to winning elections. Mamata Banerjee is the one people believe in,” said urban development minister Firhad Hakim.