Tag: Mamata Banerjee

  • Steer clear of trap laid by BJP-aided party from Hyderabad and its Bengal ally, Mamata Banerjee tells people

    By PTI
    RAIDIGHI/KULPI/TARAKESWAR: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday accused the BJP of engineering communal strife in the state to win the assembly elections.

    The TMC chief, in an apparent jibe at Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM and Abbas Siddiqui’s ISF, also called upon Muslims to steer clear of the “trap laid by a BJP-aided party from Hyderabad and its Bengal ally that are out to polarise votes”.

    Banerjee, while addressing a rally in Raidighi in South-24 Parganas district, said, “The Hyderabad man and his associate in Furfura Sharif (Siddiqui) here want to divide minority votes at the behest of the BJP, and repeat what had happened during Bihar polls.”

    Both Owaisi and Siddiqui have time and again rejected the TMC’s assertion.

    The ISF is fighting the elections in alliance with the CPI(M) and the Congress.

    ALSO READ: BJP cites audio tapes to target Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal

    The TMC supremo also urged Hindus to be on the guard against the BJP’s attempts to “instigate communal clashes” and urged them to chase away outsiders sent to foment trouble in their respective localities.

    Affirming her Hindu identity, in an apparent attempt to counter the minority appeasement charge against her, Banerjee said, “I am a devout Hindu who recites Chandi mantra every day before leaving home. That said, I also believe in our tradition of giving respect to every religion.”

    “I am a daughter of a Hindu household. I know all the mantras that are recited to worship deities such as Maa Chandi and Maa Jagaddhatri. How many of them (BJP leaders) can do that? My Hinduism beliefs are not borrowed from the BJP,” she said.

    Taking a dig at saffron party leaders who visited homes of Dalit voters and had luncheons with them, she said, “I am a Brahmin. But my all-time associate is a Scheduled Caste woman who takes care of all my needs. She also cooks food for me.”

    “I need no advertisement, unlike those who bring five-star hotel food to eat at the courtyard of a Dalit home. In reality, they are the ones who are by nature anti-Dalit, anti-backward caste and anti-minority,” she contended.

    ALSO READ: Mamata Banerjee looking for second seat to contest, claims BJP President JP Nadda

    The TMC chief further said that the BJP, if voted to power, will forcing “many citizens to leave” their place of stay by implementing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

    “They will divide West Bengal and its people. Remember how they deleted the names of 14 lakh Bengalis and two lakh Biharis in the updated NRC in Assam,” she said.

    Banerjee alleged that central forces are visiting homes 48 hours before polling and “terrorising them, asking them to vote for the BJP”.

    “Don’t be intimidated. Mothers and sisters should challenge them. We have no problems if the forces act impartially to ensure fair elections but if they act on behalf of a particular political party, we will protest,” she said.

    The chief minister, who has crossed swords with her former lieutenant and BJP candidate Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram, alleged that there were attempts by “outsiders” to rig the elections in the constituency.

    ALSO READ: Yogi Adityanath calls for Mamata Banerjee’s ouster, says BJP to ensure women’s safety in Bengal

    “Attempts were made to rig the elections in Nandigram. One local hoodlum was accompanied by outsider goons in Nandigram as they went around threatening people. This is their pattern. However, nothing can stop me from winning handsomely.

    “They had brought goondas from Bihar and planned to surround me with petrol bombs but the people of Nandigram foiled that bid as they gathered in my defence in time,” she alleged.

    At Kulpi, during the second meeting of day, the CM said, “The BJP knows nothing about Bengal which worships Durga, Kali, Shiva, Krishna, Sitala with devotion, while also observing Eid with equal fervour.”

    Asserting that it was a matter of shame that “people like Amit Shah are addressing meetings on the land of Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Swami Vivekanada and Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar”, she said, “Whosoever attends public meetings called by these rioters, killers of humanity should be ashamed of themselves.

    “Do you (people) have to attend a BJP meeting if you are offered Rs 500?” She claimed to have received a video clip where a man is seen saying that he voted for the BJP after being given puffed rice, sweets and Rs 500 in cash.

    ALSO READ: ‘Didi now looking for place outside Bengal’ – Modi hits back at TMC’s 2024 Varanasi ‘challenge’

    “On one hand, the BJP has hiked LPG prices, and on the other they are distributing ill-gotten money from PM Cares Fund, Notebandi,” Banerjee said.

    Slamming the BJP government at the Centre for hiking small savings interest rate one day only to “withdraw it the next morning”, she said the decision was taken with an eye on elections in five states.

    Noting that she has come to know that the wife of a severely thrashed TMC worker in Nandigram is worried as “BJP goons have threatened to kidnap their daughter”, Banerjee said, “A Muslim family in her neighbourhood has given them shelter, and that had once again brought to the fore the underlying harmony between Hindus and Muslims in Bengal.

    “The BJP does not represent real Hindus, they are a party of rioters, murderers,” she said.

    Criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his recent visit to Bangladesh during the elections, she said “it was his attempt to beg for votes”.

    She said that Modi’s designs will not succeed “as the TMC is deeply ensconced in the hearts of the refugees from Bangladesh, as they have been given land rights”.

    “Please ensure Bengal is not ruled by goondas from outside. If you have grievances against anyone, please keep in mind this is not the time to vent it out by voting for them. This is the time to save Bengal, which can be made possible if the TMC is re-elected,” she said.

    Pointing out that her government stood by its people when Cyclone Amphan struck, facilitating rescue and relief operations on a large scale, Banerjee said, “We had built 30 lakh houses, evacuated people before the disaster struck. We provided relief to the affected”.

    “If some people haven’t received relief, they are exceptions and the matter will be addressed by us. What did the BJP do? They didn’t provide any real help,” she said.

    “Without offering help, you are now making tall claims. We are thieves and you sadhus?” she said referring to BJP’s graft charges.

    ALSO READ: Mamata says AIMIM, ISF paid by BJP to divide Hindus and Muslims

    At Tarakeswar in Hooghly district, Banerjee, while talking about the Partition of Bengal in 1905, and how Hindus and Muslims had together fought against the division, she said, the BJP is also trying to create division and rift” among the people of the state.

    Taking a dig at TMC turncoats, the CM, during her rally in Raidighi, said sitting MLA from the seat and actor Debasree Roy joined the BJP, as she was denied a party ticket.

    “We don’t keep opportunists in our party,” she said.

    Listing her government’s achievements, she said, “Work for infrastructural development in Sunderbans has been undertaken by the TMC dispensation. The state government has taken an initiative to provide egg meal at Rs 5. A steel bridge will soon come up in Kulpi, connecting Gangasagar with the mainland.”

  • BJP cites audio tapes to target Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Citing some audio tapes, the BJP on Saturday alleged that people enjoying “protection” from the Mamata Banerjee-led government have been running an “extortion racket” in West Bengal.

    “What has come out is so ugly that we just wish to say that Mamata Banerjee and her relatives have let down the people of West Bengal. She should apologise and seek forgiveness from people for cheating them,” BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia told reporters here.

    He was referring to three audio tapes shown in a section of the media, and said they feature people considered close to the state government, including Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee.

    There was no immediate response from the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress.

    “Such is the audacity of extortionists that in one such meeting an extortionist who is close to Abhishek Banerjee sat close to commissioner and was making illegal demands from various people who wish to invest or undertake a legal activity,” Bhatia alleged.

    The contents of these audio tapes show how an “extortion racket” is being run in an organised manner under the nose of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led government, he said.

  • Yogi Adityanath calls for Mamata Banerjee’s ouster, says BJP to ensure women’s safety in Bengal

    By PTI
    FALTA/ KULTULI/ULUBERIA: Calling upon people to oust the Mamata Banerjee government, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Saturday that the BJP, if voted to power in Bengal, will ensure security for all women and create job opportunities for the youth.

    Adityanath, who addressed two rallies during the day, also said that those who had tried to stop Durga puja and Saraswati puja will be put behind bars, if the saffron party forms government in Bengal.

    “You had given 50 years to the Congress, 30 years to the communists and 10 years to the Trinamool Congress, I urge you to give five years to the BJP…We will change the face of West Bengal.

    “The BJP will stop all tortures perpetrated on the women of West Bengal. It will ensure that youths get employment opportunities,” the Uttar Pradesh CM said at a public meeting in Falta area of South-24 Parganas district.

    Raising anti-TMC slogans such as “Doo Maaye (May), Didi gaaye”, (May 2, Didi gone), the senior BJP leader also said that his party will guarantee ration for everyone, provide pension to the old, houses to the poor, while also making sure that the people of the state get to avail the benefits doled out under PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi and Ayushman Bharat health scheme.

    “No one will be allowed to play with the emotions of people. We will see to it that Durga Puja and Saraswati Puja are held in Bengal without any hindrance. Jail doors are open for the ones who wish to stop such religious festivals,” Adityanath asserted.

    Controversy had erupted in 2017 at a school in Tehatta, Nadia district, over celebration of Saraswati puja, with a section of students apparently trying to stop another group from observing the festival.

    In that very year, the West Bengal government had imposed curbs on Durga idol immersion, as the occasion coincided with Muharram, but the high court later eased the restrictions.

    Adityanath further said that properties of goons, who threaten people to have their way, will be confiscated, and they would be made to beg on the streets.

    “In the past, the situation was somewhat similar in UP. Now where are those people (goons)? None will be able to find a single one of them,” he said.

    Speaking at another rally in Kultuli, the UP CM, listing the benefits available to the people of his state, sought to know why government employees in West Bengal were not getting salaries in accordance with the Seventh Pay Commission.

    “Why hasn’t Didi implemented central schemes here? It’s for her that the people of Bengal have been deprived of the doles offered by the central government. What has Didi done for the people of the state other than pursuing appeasement politics? The TMC supremo has just one agenda promoting her nephew Abhishek Banerjee,” he alleged.

    Earlier in the day, Adityanath held roadshows in Howrah district’s Uluberia to bolster the BJP’s campaign in West Bengal, ahead of the third phase of assembly elections.

    Standing atop a vehicle, decked up with flowers and BJP flags, he waved at enthusiastic crowd that gathered along the road in the Gangarampur area of the subdivision where two constituencies — Uluberia Uttar and Uluberia Dakshin — will go to polls on April 6.

    Locals had queued up on both sides of the road and watched the procession, which inched its way through the narrow streets amid chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’.

  • ‘Didi now looking for place outside Bengal’: Modi hits back at TMC’s 2024 Varanasi ‘challenge’

    By PTI
    SONARPUR: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday slammed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for branding BJP leaders as “outsiders” (Bohirgato) and said it is an insult to the inclusive ideology of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and principles of Indian Constitution.

    Asserting that Bengal’s “Bhumiputra” (son of the soil) will take over as the Chief Minister after the BJP is voted to power on May 2, Modi said no Indian is an “outsider” in the state.

    “When the British tried to divide us, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose said – India is one, and the hopes and aspirations of every Indian are the same. Today, there is a lot of pain when instead of propagating the ideology of Netaji, TMC and Mamata Didi are talking about Bohirgato,” he told an election rally at Sonarpur in South 24 Parganas district.

    ​ALSO READ | West Bengal polls: Mamata says AIMIM, ISF paid by BJP to divide Hindus and Muslims

    Didi is talking about outsiders. We are all children of Mother India. No Indian is an outsider here. When BJP forms the government after May 2, a son of the soil will become the chief minister, he said.

    Calling TMC a “Taka Maar Company” (an enterprise that loots money), the Prime Minister asked Banerjee to control her “goons”.

    “You keep your TMC goons under check. Explain to them – Modi is here! Their bullying will no longer be tolerated. Bengal doesn’t want violence and terror. Bengal wants education for its daughters and protection, respect and justice for its mothers,” he asserted.

    Referring to some TMC leaders’ claim that Banerjee might contest elections from his Lok Sabha seat Varanasi in 2024, Modi mocked the TMC boss, saying this proves that Didi has accepted her defeat.

    Didi is winning Nandigram. The question of her fighting from another seat doesn’t arise. @narendramodi Ji, retract from your efforts to mislead people before they see your lies with the end of nomination in WB. Look for a safer seat in 2024, as you will be challenged in Varanasi.
    — All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) April 1, 2021

    “Didi is now looking for a place for herself outside Bengal. The people of Varanasi and Uttar Pradesh are as large-hearted as the people of Bengal. They won’t call her an outsider,” he said sarcastically.

    Claiming that Banerjee decided to contest Nandigram on impulse “tao mein”, Modi said, sensing defeat at the prestigious seat, the TMC decided that Banerjee should enter the fray from another seat as well.

    “But some sensible people then told Didi it will be her second big mistake,” he quipped.

  • West Bengal polls: Mamata says AIMIM, ISF paid by BJP to divide Hindus and Muslims

    By ANI
    SOUTH 24 PARGANAS (West Bengal): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of playing divisive politics in the state, adding that BJP has incentivised All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and Indian Secular Front (ISF) to play a part in the same.

    While addressing a public meeting at Raidighi stadium, Mamata said, “Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians are saying Hare Krishna hare hare, Trinamool ghare ghare. BJP says hare Krishna hare hare, Hindu, Muslim bhaag kare, Scheduled Castes (SC) ko bhaag kare. They are destroying Bengal.”

    “Our culture is that Hindus and Muslims have tea with each other and celebrate Durga pooja together. BJP will benefit if there is unrest in our villages,” she said.

    Attacking AIMIM and ISF, the Trinamool Congress chief said, “They had been given money by BJP to divide Hindus and Muslims. If you do not want to be divided, if you do not want NRC then do not vote for them.”

    “Giving the vote to them would mean you gave the vote to BJP. In Nandigram, your daughter and kids will be kidnapped, that is what these goondas are threatening. Do not give votes to outsider gundas of BJP,” she added.

    Naming the people who were denied tickets by the TMC, Mamata alleged that they were propped up by BJP.

    The West Bengal Chief Minister also promised to bring water to every household in Raidighi.

    She also stated that “free medical treatment in government hospitals and private nursing homes too will be started”.

    “If you want Mamata, vote for TMC. It is not Delhi election but Bengal’s election,” she reminded.

    Polling for the first two phases of the West Bengal polls was held on March 27 and April 1 respectively. The next phase of polling will take place on April 6. 

  • Mamata Banerjee looking for second seat to contest, claims BJP President JP Nadda

    By ANI
    GUWAHATI: BJP president JP Nadda on Saturday said the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is ‘losing from Nandigram’ and her own people told him that she is ‘searching for another seat to contest’.

    “This is their strategy and they know better about it, but we have information that she is searching ( for another seat) and their people have said so to me. However, I cannot take a guarantee of this as they know it. But she is losing Nandigram, this is certain,” he said.

    On Thursday, Nandigram witnessed a direct contest between Mamata and her former colleague Suvendu Adhikari, who had joined the BJP in December last year.

    Nandigram is the home turf of Adhikari, while Mamata is contesting from Nandigram and not from her home turf Bhabanipur constituency.

    Exuding confidence that the Bharatiya Janata Party will come to power in West Bengal, the BJP president said that the people of the state are eager to oust the Trinamool Congress-government led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee “lock, stock and barrel”.

    “We are forming the government there (West Bengal). But the poll results of West Bengal will be shocking. The people of Bengal are eager to dismiss the rule of Mamata Banerjee lock, stock and barrel,” he said.

    “In the first two phases, TMC has been wiped out and BJP is coming. In Nandigram, BJP is winning clearly,” Nadda added.

    The first two phases of assembly polls have been held in West Bengal and the third phase is slated for April 6. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.

  • Don’t let BJP flex money muscle: Mamata Banerjee

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA:  Countering BJP’s claim of winning over 200 seats out of 294 in West Bengal Assembly elections, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday urged voters in north Bengal to secure a big victory for TMC in order to prevent the saffron camp from indulging in horse trading once results are out.

    “I will win from Nandigram with a comfortable margin. But you will have to secure TMC’s victory in another 199 seats to protect democracy. Otherwise, BJP will use their money power to buy traitors,’’ Mamata said at a rally at Dinhata in Cooch Behar district, where BJP performed impressively in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Her constituency  Nandigram went to polls on Thursday. 

    ALSO READ | Mamata government runs on 3T model of ‘Tolabaji, Tanashahi, Tushtikaran’: Amit Shah

    Reiterating her allegation against BJP on the ‘outsider’ issue, Mamata lambasted her main rival. “This (BJP) is a party of outsiders. A day before the second phase of polls, they brought people from outside and scared voters at night. With due respect to the Election Commission, I must say it is working under the instruction of the Union Home Minister,’’ said the chief minister.

    Mamata also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for meeting followers of the Matua religious sect in Bangladesh. Questioning the timing of Modi’s visit, she said: “Elections are underway and he went to Bangladesh. People in West Bengal are no fools. Everybody knows why the Prime Minister went to Bangladesh. This is politics of vote bank.’’

    ALSO READ | Mamata Banerjee’s body language shows that she has accepted defeat in Nandigram: PM Modi

    Matuas are deciding factors in at least 35 Assembly constituencies and riding their support in the 2019 general elections, BJP had won  the Lok Sabha seats of Bongaon in North 24 Parganas and Ranaghat in Nadia.Without naming All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s (AIMIM) founder Asaduddin Owaisi and Indian Secular Front’s (ISF) Abbas Siddiqui, the Bengal chief minister urged the minorities, SC and ST voters to stay away from their ‘divisive’ politics. “There is a leader who came from Hyderabad and one from Furfura Sharif. Don’t fall in their trap. They are here to divide people on the line of religion. My request to minorities, ST and SC voters, please don’t allow anyone to divide your votes.’’

  • BJP seeks EC action against West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee for ‘violating’ poll norms in Nandigram

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: A BJP delegation Friday met Election Commission officials here and demanded action against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, alleging she violated elections norms in her Nandigram constituency while votes were being cast during the second phase of polling on Thursday.

    The delegation comprised Union ministers Prakash Javadekar, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, BJP general secretary Bhupender Yadav, and the party’s national media incharge Anil Baluni.

    “For the first time in the country’s history, a chief minister sat on a dharna in a polling booth when polling was on. Before she (Mamata Banerjee) sat on her dharna, 74 per cent votes were polled in Nandigram and the polling was by and large peaceful,” Javadekar told reporters after meeting the EC officials here.

    He further alleged as soon as the Trinamool Congress chief sat on the “dharna”, her party workers started pelting stones at the polling booth.

    “We have given all proofs including photographs of her misconduct. A chief minister, which is a constitutional post, sitting on a dharna while the polling was on is against democracy and also against the Election Commission’s norms for polling. Therefore, we have demanded urgent action against her from the poll panel,” Javadekar said.

    The BJP leader also hit out at both the TMC and the Congress for questioning the credibility of Electronic Voting Machines, saying as soon as these parties sense their defeats, they start looking for something to blame their defeat on.

    Later in a tweet, Bhupender Yadav said, “Met poll panel officials with party leaders seeking action against Mamata Banerjee for protesting at a polling booth and provoking TMC workers to disturb peace. Her name must be removed from TMC’s star campaigner list for peaceful polls.”

    The BJP has also demanded action against about DMK supremo MK Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi for his “indecent” remarks against late BJP leaders Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj.

    Udhayanidhi raked controversy by saying that both Jaitley and Swaraj died due to political pressure.

    Chief Minister Banerjee on Thursday visited several booths across the high-profile Nandigram constituency, where she is pitted against her protege-turned-adversary Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP, as sporadic incidents of violence and allegations of booth jamming marred the voting process in the second phase.

    Both Banerjee and Adhikari fanned out to various polling booths in Nandigram to take stock of the situation after reports of stray violence and booth ‘jamming’, a bid by workers of one party to crowd out voters from a polling booth by forming long queues.

  • Amit Shah claims Mamata Banerjee has clearly lost the poll battle in West Bengal

    By PTI
    BARUIPUR: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday claimed that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has clearly lost the poll battle in West Bengal and said the Citizenship Amendment Act will be on the agenda in the first meeting of the new BJP government which will come to power in the state.

    Shah held two roadshows in the state during the day one at Baruipur in South 24 Parganas and another at Arambagh in Hoogly district.

    The top BJP leader claimed that going by the feedback he has received the party has already won 50 out of the 60 seats, election to which was held in the first two phases and will bag more than 200 of the total 294 assembly.

    “We will definitely win over 200 seats altogether,” he told a TV news channel during his roadshow at Baruipur.

    ALSO READ | Bengal polls: ‘Not your party’s member’, Mamata hits back at Modi over second seat contest dig

    To a question he said The Citizenship Amendment Act will be taken up in the first meeting of the new BJP government which will come to power in West Bengal.

    The party will give top priority to the safety of women in the state.

    Asked to comment on Banerjees claim that she will win from Nandigram with a comfortable margin, Shah said “It is clear that she has lost the battle.

    She is making such tall claims now as she has no option. She has to make such a statement.” Banerjee took on her former lieutenant turned BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari in the hotly contested seat, election to which was held in the second phase on April 1.

    BJP workers, carrying high the partys lotus symbol and balloons in its colors shouting Jai Shree Ram and Aar Noy Annay (no more injustice) were seen following the flower bedecked truck on which Shah stood waving as a large number of onlookers gathered on both sides of road braving the summer heat.

    At Baruipur the roadshow covered 1 km and at Arambagh 1.5 km.

  • Bengal polls: ‘Not your party’s member’, Mamata hits back at Modi over second seat contest dig

    By PTI
    DINHATA: Asserting that she was winning the election from Nandigram, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that she does not need his “suggestion” on contesting from any other seat.

    The prime minister had on Thursday asked Banerjee to clarify whether there is truth in the “rumours” that she was going to file the nomination for another seat going to the polls in the last phase, maintaining that the TMC chief has admitted defeat in Nandigram.

    “I want to tell the prime minister to control his home minister first and then try to control us.

    We are not your party’s members that you will control us,” Banerjee said at an election rally in Dinhata in the north Bengal district of Coochbehar.

    “I am not your party’s member that you will suggest me to contest from another seat. I have contested from Nandigram and will win from there,” she added.

    At a rally in Uluberia on Thursday, Modi said that the people of Bengal are prepared if she goes anywhere else to contest, anticipating defeat in Nandigram, where she was up against BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, her former close aide.

    Banerjee, who began her north Bengal tour with the rally here, alleged that the election is not being conducted by the Election Commission but by Amit Shah, the Home Minister.

    She alleged that the central forces were being used to intimidate the voters.

    “I want more than 200 seats, since anything less than that will mean they (BJP) will buy the ‘gaddars’ (traitors),” Banerjee said, apparently admitting that TMC MLAs may be up for grabs if her party wins by a slender margin in the elections for the 294-member assembly.