In an apparent jibe at turncoat BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari and his influential family in Purba Medinipur district, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said that she was relieved that “Mir Zafars” (traitors) have quit her party, the TMC before the state election.
Banerjee, who addressed a TMC poll rally at Khejuri in Purba Medinipur district, said BJP is a “party of feudal lords” which was more interested in selling the country.
Training her gun at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who held an election rally in neighbouring Paschim Medinipur district during the day, Banerjee said, “It seems that the PM thinks himself to be above God. At times he appears to think of himself as Rabindra Nath Tagore, at times as Vivekananda … And at times he thinks of himself as above Gandhiji.”
“Thank God, the Mir Jafars and gaddars (traitors) have left (TMC). I am relieved. It has saved us (the party). They never used to allow me to come to Khejuri, Nandigram or Kanthi whenever I wished to visit these places.
“It was as if this (the area) was their zamindari. Now nobody can stop me from coming here or to go to any other part of the state,” Banerjee said.
She also said that the fate of the “traitors” will be similar to that of Mir Jafar who could not rule Bengal for long after betraying Siraj-ud-Daulah. The Bengal nawab was defeated in the hands of the British East India Company in 1757.
Banerjee is contesting from Nandigarm, instead of her home constituency Bhowanipore in Kolkata. She will take on her former lieutenant and now BJP candidate Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram, which was witness to the historic anti-farmland acquisition movement and catapulted TMC to power in the state in 2011 after a 34-year-long Left Front rule.
Most members of the Adhikari family, which has considerable political clout in the district, have either joined the BJP or expressed a desire to join the saffron party.
Banerjee also alleged that BJP has stolen several lakh crores of rupees from the common people of the country by “selling” the Railways, BSNL and banks.
“The BJP must clear the air over the fate of the demonetisation money and PM Cares fund. People want to know,” she said.
She also alleged that Modi has stolen money meant for COVID-19 management.
Speaking at another rally at Panskura, Banerjee said BJP is not getting “proper candidates” for the coming polls and is therefore nominating its MPs in assembly seats.
“BJP is no more the party of Atal Behari Vajpayee. Now it belongs to goons, to rioters, to Ravanaas and Dushsasanas,” she said taking examples from Ramayana and Mahabharata to crticise BJP leaders.
She urged people to be alert while casting their votes and to “double check” the EVMs they use.
“Always keep your eyes and ears open while voting. Double check the EVMs and wait for the beep to ensure that you have successfully voted. Never eat anything offered by anybody especially by the agents. The food can be drugged which will make you fall asleep and it will be then when they will do mischief with the EVMs,” she said.
Using TMC”s famous ”Khela Hobe” (game is on) slogan, she urged the voters “Play the game in such a manner that BJP is driven out of the country”.
Responding to BJP’s ridicule over her campaigning in a wheelchair due to her injured foot, Banerjee stated that her one foot is “enough for a powerful shot”.
“I still have one foot intact. I can use it to shoot quite powerfully. Give me a ball and I will show you that.
“What I can do using one foot, even crores of your (the BJP”s) feet won’t be able to match it,” she added. PTI
