TMC Accuses Centre of Arresting Opposition Leaders to Win Parliamentary Elections
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Feb 1: Distancing herself further from the Congress-led INDIA Bloc with the CPM as one of its members, the Trinamool Congress chief and the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday targeted the BJP government at the centre accusing it of misusing the central agencies to arrest opposition leaders to win the coming elections.
Addressing a rally, Ms Banerjee made a veiled reference to the arrest by the Enforcement Directorate of the former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren in an alleged land scam case and said, “In this country, every opposition leader is put in jail. If they put me in jail, I will come out. Remember they are putting everyone in jail to win the election. Are we thieves and they are saints? Today they are in power so they have the agencies, tomorrow then they won’t be in power and all agencies will disappear,” Ms Banerjee added.
A day after she accused the Congress and the Left of colluding in West Bengal against her party helping the BJP in the process, Ms Banerjee still expressed the confidence that her TMC would “win” Delhi and bring all regional parties under one umbrella after the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Ms Banerjee stressed her party’s commitment to the core values of “Maa, Mati, Manush” (Mother, Land, People), claiming that the TMC aims to win Bengal and extend its influence to the national capital. She underlined her vision of uniting regional parties post-election hinting at a potential shift from the INDIA bloc Opposition alliance which includes the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), among others. “If the people are with us, then we promise, we will win Delhi. After the election we will do this by taking all the regional parties together,” Chief Minister Banerjee said.
Ms Banerjee also raised concerns about the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), claiming that these initiatives are aimed at isolating voters. She cautioned the public not to trust these political plans and accused the BJP of using such measures to manipulate elections. “Please remember, I would not allow them to implement NRC here, and they are lying in the name of CAA. These are their political plans, don’t trust them, they want to isolate you all,” she said.
The West Bengal Chief Minister accused the Congress and Left of tying up to assist the BJP in the upcoming elections, citing the failure of seat-sharing discussions with the Congress due to alleged interference from the Left. “Whom will you choose, the one who stays with you 365 days, or the one who comes like a seasonal bird? Remember we will win Delhi. Bengal will show the path to win Delhi. We will go solo in Bengal. We wanted an alliance but Congress didn’t do it. Rather the Congress and CPI(M) have tied up to help the BJP,” she alleged.
In the 2019 elections, Ms Banerjee’s TMC secured 22 seats, Congress won two, and the BJP bagged 18 seats in West Bengal.
