Amit Shah Paints Mamata Banerjee as a “Tyrannical Queen” as TMC Promises Outside Support to INDIA Bloc if Formed Government

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, May 15: The West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said her Trinamool Congress would provide the INDIA bloc “outside support” if the opposition alliance come to power at the Centre in the Lok Sabha elections, even as the union home minister Amit Shah painted Ms Banerjee as a “tyrannical queen” alluding her to the legendary film-maker Satyajit Roy’s epic “Hirak Rajar Deshe.”

“Legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray would have called his iconic film, ‘Hirak Rajar Deshe’, “Hirak Rani” if it were made during Mamata Banerjee’s tenure as Bengal Chief Minister, Mr Shah who was addressing election rallies in West Bengal on Wednesday, said. The 1980 classic, starring stalwarts Utpal Dutt and Soumitra Chatterjee, is a dystopian fantasy film that revolves around a tyrannical, megalomaniac king crushes dissent and torments his subjects.

Ms Banerjee, who had refused seat-sharing with Congress and had put her INDIA alliance membership on hold, on Wednesday said she would “provide outside support” to the Opposition bloc should it come to power after the general election. “We will provide the INDIA alliance help in every way from outside. We will form a government so that in Bengal our mothers and sisters never face a problem and those who work in the 100-days-job scheme, do not face problems,” she said.

But she made her definition of the INDIA bloc clear — it does not include the CPM or the Bengal Congress, led by arch-rival and senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. “You must know this that the INDIA Alliance — don’t count the Bengal Congress and CPI(M), those two are not with us. Those two are with the BJP. I am talking about Delhi,” she said.

“Satyajit Ray was a great artist. He made a movie – Hirak Rajar Deshe. When Mamata Banerjee’s regime began, Satyajit Ray was not alive. Otherwise, he would have named the movie, ‘Hirak Rani’. Mamata Banerjee is ‘Hirak Rani,” Mr Shah said at a poll rally in Hooghly.

“Violence, corruption, polarisation… Communists and Trinamool worked to finish nationalism from Bengal which gave us Vande Mataram, Jana Gana Mana which played a key role in the freedom movement. They have snatched the rights of the poor, the backward and tribals and given them to infiltrators,” Mr Shah added.

The movie parallel, apparently made to paint Ms Banerjee as a tyrant, was also aimed at countering the Trinamool’s “outsider” charge. The ruling party in Bengal has been targeting the BJP as a party of “outsiders” who don’t understand Bengal’s culture and heritage. Referencing an iconic Satyajit Ray movie that most Bengalis would have grown up with is significant against this backdrop.

Mr Shah’s parallel between Hirak Raja and the Trinamool chief also comes weeks after a row over Kolkata Police’s response to a meme featuring Ms Banerjee. Several social media users got notices from Kolkata Police over the meme that went viral. This had prompted several BJP leaders to question the freedom of expression in Bengal.

Not one to let such opportunities pass, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promptly shared a similar meme that featured him, with the comment, “I also enjoyed seeing myself dance. Such creativity in peak poll season is truly a delight!”

The Union Home Minister also said at the rally that Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir is a part of India and “we will take it.” “After the abrogation of Article 370 by the government in 2019, peace has returned to Kashmir. But now we witness protests in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Earlier slogans of Azadi were heard here, now the same slogans are heard in PoK. Earlier stones were pelted here, now stones are pelted in PoK,” he said.

Targeting the Congress over an old video of its senior leader Mani Shankar Aiyar, Mr Shah said, “Congress leaders like Mani Shankar Aiyar say it should not be done as they have an atom bomb. But let me say this, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is part of India and we will take it.”