No difference between Modi and 'Didi', Bengal needs to be rescued from TMC: Congress

The opposition 'grand alliance' will win the upcoming assembly elections in West Bengal, senior Congress leaders asserted on Sunday while addressing a mega rally in Kolkata, maintaining that the country needs to be saved from the BJP and the state rescued from the ruling Trinamool Congress.

Addressing lakhs of supporters at the Brigade parade grounds, state Congress president Adhir Chowdhury said the gathering proved that the Bengal elections will not be a two- cornered contest.

''The grand alliance of the Left-Congress and other secular forces will defeat both the TMC and the BJP,'' Chowdhury, the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, said.

He said that the BJP and the TMC want that other than the two, there should not exist any other political force in Bengal and that no other party should come between them.

''But in the future, there will not be any BJP or TMC.

Only the grand alliance will remain,'' he claimed.

Those trying to propagate the idea that TMC and BJP are the only ones contesting the polls in West Bengal have been proved wrong by the huge gathering, he said.

''Morning is the harbinger of the day, and this meeting proves that the TMC and BJP will be defeated in the coming elections,'' Chowdhury said.

He said that the goal of the alliance is to ensure the victory of secularism and democracy and to defeat communal and repressive politics in Bengal.

Alleging that both the BJP and the TMC are trying to divide the people, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said that the country has to be saved from one, and Bengal has to be rescued from the other.

Baghel claimed that the Narendra Modi government is selling off public sector enterprises and infrastructure like railway stations and airports built by the earlier Congress governments.

''Both the BJP and TMC are trying to divide the people.

The country has to be saved from one and Bengal has to be rescued from the other,'' he said, addressing the rally.

''We had fought earlier against the Whites and now we have to fight against the thieves,'' he said, remembering Bengal's contribution to the freedom struggle.

Noting that Modi had earlier given the slogan that the ''country will not be sold'', Baghel questioned why are railway stations and airports being privatised.

''Now it has become the 'West India Company', handing over everything to two entities,'' he said, without naming anyone.

''On Netaji's 125th birth anniversary on January 23, we have named the police training academy in Chhattisgarh after Subhas Chandra Bose, while Narendra Modi has got a stadium named after himself,'' the chief minister said.

Baghel claimed that while the BJP is selling off public sector enterprises, his government was given back land to the tribals.

The chief minister said that his Chhattisgarh government offers the highest rate in the country for paddy to the farmers.

Asserting that depression abounds in the nation and in Bengal, Chowdhury said that the economy of the country and the state have been destroyed.

''Both Narendra Modi and Mamata Banerjee came to power through democratic means, but after that, they started throttling the very same democracy,'' he said.

''When Modi talks of Congress-mukt Bharat in Delhi, Banerjee calls for opposition-free Bengal,'' he said, adding that there is no difference between them.

''Anyone opposing Modi in Delhi is termed anti-national and in Bengal, such a person speaking up against Didi (Mamata Banerjee) is termed anti-government,'' he said.

Chowdhury said that the rising petrol, diesel and cooking gas prices have severely affected the lives of the common people.

''Bengal's chief minister has reduced the price of petrol and diesel by Re 1 only, she does not have to show such benevolence as she had increased fuel prices during the height of the pandemic, dealing a cruel blow to the people,'' he said.

Chowdhury said that the Centre should reduce the excise duty and the state must bring down the VAT rates on petroleum products.

Lamenting the death of Left activist Maidul Islam Midya after participating in a Left-Congress agitation against the TMC government, wherein he was injured during police action, the Congress leader claimed that the DYFI worker was ''killed for seeking jobs''.

''By offering a job of a homeguard to Maidul Islam's family, you (Banerjee) have made fun of his sacrifice instead of showing compassion,'' Chowdhury said.

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