I.N.D.I.A Will Defeat BJP, Not Seeking Any Post: Mamata Banerjee

Feisty TMC head Mamata Banerjee said that the BJP's 'Beti Bachao' scheme has turned into 'Beti Jalao' and kept up her attack on the Centre over the Manipur crisis

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has expressed unwavering confidence that the I.N.D.I.A. (Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance) will defeat the BJP in the 2024 elections. She issued a resounding call of ‘Jeetega Bharat’, stressing that her sole focus is on the victory of the alliance and not on seeking any post.

The feisty TMC head said that the BJP’s ‘Beti Bachao’ scheme has turned into ‘Beti Jalao’ and kept up her attack on the Centre over the Manipur crisis. Banerjee raised questions over the Centre not bothering to send central teams to Manipur, where 160 people have lost their lives to ethnic strife.

“From now on, our clarion call will be ‘Jeetega Bharat’. All our future programmes will be held under the I.N.D.I.A banner. I am happy about the alliance that 26 political parties have formulated,” Banerjee said.

“We don’t care about any post; we only want peace in our nation and for BJP to be ousted. The BJP government has crossed all limits of decency and it is time for the people to remove them from power. We must remember that if the BJP government returns to power in 2024, there will be no democracy in our country. We have to throw them out. Hence, I am giving the call today — ‘BJP Haarega, Bharat Jeetega’, and ‘Jeetega Bharat’. I congratulate the 26 political parties for coming together and forming the I.N.D.I.A, an alliance to defeat the BJP,” said Banerjee, making her intentions for the future clear.

In an address on the party’s annual Martyrs’ Day rally in Kolkata, she said the leaders of the opposition alliance stand by every citizen of the north-eastern state and expressed her own solidarity with the people of Manipur. “I want to extend my solidarity to the people of Manipur, at the very outset, on behalf of the people of Bengal and I.N.D.I.A. The atrocities we witness in Manipur are condemnable in the strictest terms. The central government’s ‘Beti Bachao’ initiative has turned into ‘Beti Jalao’,” she said.

Banerjee went on to say that the situation of women in the country reflects the BJP’s policies towards them in the nation. “Our daughters in Manipur are dying, and this is not an isolated incident under BJP rule at the Centre. Even in the Bilkis Bano case, rapists were let off by this government,” she pointed out. “Similarly, even after our women wrestlers’ protests, bail was granted to the main accused, a BJP MP,” she added.

The West Bengal CM said a delegation of chief ministers from non-NDA parties is scheduled to visit Manipur and that the modalities of the visit are being worked out with the multiple alliance partners of I.N.D.I.A. Banerjee said that mothers and daughters of the country will give a befitting reply to the BJP in the upcoming elections; she added that the honour of the country’s womenfolk has been severely tarnished.

Calling the BJP-led political dispensation at the Centre as ‘merchants of terror’, Banerjee wanted to know why no central team had been sent to Manipur yet despite the ongoing ethnic violence there (which has already claimed 160 lives), when the government sends such teams to Bengal with alacrity.

“BJP leaders in Bengal openly claim they would impose Presidents’ Rule in Bengal; why isn’t the same happening in Manipur? The ‘merchants of terror’ are sending central teams to Bengal, but why aren’t central teams being sent to Manipur?” she asked.

Asserting that the PM is erroneously equating the Manipur violence with incidents in other states, Banerjee said he is indulging in “whataboutery, instead of condemning the Manipur violence”. She wanted to know how long will the BJP allow harassment of women, Dalits, minorities and STs? “Instead of breaking the country, has the BJP government ever considered controlling price rise? Today, a kilogram of tomato costs over Rs 120,” she said.

Mamata Banerjee stressed that the BJP has a ‘gameplan’ of dividing the state by fanning divisive forces. “BJP is trying to incite violence in Bengal and divide the state. They want to separate the Hills from Bengal. They want to create fissures between Rajbanshis and Kamatapuris. They want to incite violence between Kurmis and Adivasis,” she said.