“Don’t Play With Self-Respect & Dignity Of The Women Of Bengal”

On Monday, May 13, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to play with the self-respect and dignity of women of the state by making “false claims” about atrocities.

The TMC supremo, while addressing an election meeting at Bongaon, said that Modi should keep in mind that the situation of West Bengal is not like BJP-ruled states. She said, “Don’t play with the self-respect of women, don’t hatch conspiracies by playing with the dignity of our mothers and sisters.”

In his public meetings on Sunday, the prime minister alleged that the TMC was trying to hide its past misdeeds in Sandeshkhali where TMC leaders were accused of sexual assault and land grab.

However, a BJP leader of Sandeshkhali, in a recently surfaced purported video, was heard saying that the protests by women were “staged” at the behest of Leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, who was behind the “whole conspiracy”.

In another similar video, a section of the women who had earlier filed rape complaints, claimed that they were coerced to go to the police station and made to sign a blank paper by  BJP leaders.

Banerjee said, “Don’t touch our women, this is not your Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh. Women in Bengal live with respect and dignity.”

Additionally, the TMC accused the saffron party of using central forces to intimidate the state’s ruling party workers in border districts like North 24-Parganas “so that they don’t work against BJP”.

Banerjee said, “Modi ji said yesterday that CAA will be implemented in Bengal. We don’t understand why someone has to apply for citizenship afresh or why someone has to produce 50-year-old documents to prove that his family migrated from Bangladesh. If someone wants to apply without any conditions, we have no objection.”

The TMC chief wondered why union minister Shantanu Thakur did not apply for CAA. She said, “If the BJP wants to enforce NRC and Uniform Civil Code in West Bengal, I will oppose that tooth and nail till my last breath. You will have NRC on my dead body.”

Banerjee asserted that after the third phase of polling, it is clear that the INDIA bloc has already secured 315 seats and the BJP will not cross 200 mark. “The INDIA bloc will come to power in this vote. Your Didi will back the INDIA bloc coming to power (at the Centre),” she said, even as a section of the crowd shouted that she would be the next PM.

She claimed, “In Bengal, we are fighting BJP alone as Congress and the left are helping the BJP.”

Banerjee said PM Narendra Modi wants to “keep all opposition leaders behind bars” and labelled him as the most autocratic, vindictive PM she had ever seen. She also alleged that the BJP was conspiring to stop ‘Lakshmir Bhandar’, the state’s financial assistance scheme for women. She said, “BJP is threatening to stop Lakshmir Bhandar after three months. If anyone dares such an attempt, you all know what to do.”

Banerjee accused the BJP of trying to destroy the pluralistic spirit of India and changing the Constitution. She said, “The BJP is attempting to pit Muslims against SCs, STs and OBCs by building a false narrative that opposition parties including TMC are plotting to take away the quota for backward castes in favour of Muslims. Can such a thing ever happen? I ask BJP not to play with fire.”