Mamata says BJP more dangerous than Maoists;terms desertions from TMC 'good riddance'


PTI | Purulia | Updated: 19-01-2021 19:00 IST | Created: 19-01-2021 19:00 IST
Mamata says BJP more dangerous than Maoists;terms desertions from TMC 'good riddance'
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Terming the BJP as more dangerousthan the Maoists, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjeeon Tuesday accused the saffron party of making false promisesto the people before elections and vanishing after winning.

Claiming that the Trinamool Congress is not perturbed overdesertions by some leaders, she said politics is a solemnideology and philosophy and one cannot change these everydaylike clothes.

''BJP is more dangerous than the Maoists,'' Banerjee saidwhile addressing a rally here in Purulia district, which wasonce a hotbed of the banned ultra-Left organisation.

Banerjee said the Maoists have come back to the mainstreamin the state and that her government has given them jobs asspecial home guards.

TMC has inducted Chhatradhar Mahato,a former leader ofMaoist-backed People's Committee Against Police Atrocities(PCAPA), who had hogged the limelight during the Lalgarhmovement in the tribal-dominated Junglemahal area at the fagend of the erstwhile CPI(M)-led Left Front rule in the state.

Mahato was set free in February last year by the stategovernment following reduction in his life term to 10 years byCalcutta High Court for his good conduct.

Facings flight of TMC MPs and MLAs to the BJP ahead of thestate polls, she said ''Those who want to join BJP can go, butwe will not bow our heads to it.'' Terming the desertions as ''good riddance'', she said theseleaders would have disturbed the party if they remained in theTMC.

''There are three types of people in politics - lobhi(greedy), bhogi (those who enjoy power) and tyagi (abstainersfrom indulgence),'' she said.

She claimed the BJP leaders misled tribals of the Jangalmahalarea within which Purulia is situated, with false promises anddid not come again for their welfare after winning Lok Sabhapolls.

BJP candidates had won on all the seats in the Jangalmahalarea including Purulia in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Comparing the BJP with a snake, the TMC supremo allegedthat it annihilates anyone that comes into its grip.

Dismissing projections in pre-poll surveys, she claimedthat ''lies'' are being dished out on behest of the BJP.

''TMC will get four times the number of seats that they areprojecting,'' she said, alleging that the BJP propagandamachinery was circulating fake videos in social media.

Accusing the BJP of disrespecting icons like IshwarChandra Vidyasagar and Rabindranath Tagore, she said ''theycan't even pronounce 'Bangla' properly, they say 'Bangal';they remember Bengal only when the elections come''.

Banerjee claimed that BJP leaders are going to the villagesin West Bengal saying they have come from Delhi or Gujarat andwant to have a meal at local people's residences.

She claimed the BJP leaders are bringing food from five-starhotels to eat at the houses of poor villagers for publicity.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda had lunch at the residences of local people duringtheir recent visits to the state in the run-up to the polls to294-member assembly due in April-May.

Accusing the BJP, Congress and CPI(M) of being brothers inarms, she alleged the Left party has handed over its votes tothe saffron party.

Left Front and the Congress have decided to fight Bengalpolls together.

''Narendra Modi had promised Rs 15 lakh in every citizen'sbank account, but has anyone received a single Rupee?'' sheasked apparently refering to Modi's assertions on return ofblack money to the country from outside.

She said farmers are agitating over their demands forrepealing the farm laws for more than a month, while thepeasants are happy in the TMC-ruled Bengal.

Picking up cudgels for a Bengal actor, against whom BJPleader Tathagata Roy has filed a police complaint forallegedly posting objectionable material in the social media,Banerjee warned against intimidation of anyone in Bengal forfree speech.

She said class XII students in the state will get Rs 10,000each in their bank account ''within a day or two'' for buyingtablets or smartphones for their studies in the virtual mode.

Asserting that Purulia has never bowed to the outsiders,Banerjee said that the TMC government has done everything forthe development of the adivasis, including formation of WestBengal Santhal Academy, apart from giving recognition to theirlanguage 'Ol Chiki'.

Admitting that Purulia suffers from water supply problems,the chief minister said that projects worth thousands ofcrores of Rupees have been taken up by her government forsupplying drinking water to every household.

Banerjee said that thousands of jobs will be created withthe Dankuni-Amritsar freight corridor route passing throughRaghunathpur in Purulia and an industrial park coming up inJoypur in the district.

Irked at some people raising demands during the meeting, theTMC supremo said that they should write to her office insteadof creating disturbance at her public rallies.

''BJP is trying this mischief by sending some people at mypublic meetings to create disturbance,'' she said, threateningto ask her party people to do the same at the saffron party'sor CPI(M)'s meetings.

The chief minister later assured these people of meetingtheir demands as far as possible.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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