BJP putting everyone in jail to win polls: Mamata Banerjee

PTI, Feb 1, 2024, 6:55 PM IST

Source: PTI / File

Santipur: A day after her Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday alleged that the BJP was imprisoning opposition leaders to win the upcoming general elections.

Speaking at a public distribution programme at Santipur in Nadia district, Banerjee said that even if she was put behind bars, she would come out of it.

“You can intimidate and put everyone in India in jail… You can also put me behind bars, but I will surely come out. The BJP is putting everyone in jail only to win the election,” she said.

Soren was arrested on Wednesday night after a marathon seven-hour grilling by ED in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land scam.

Banerjee said, “We (opposition party leaders) all are thieves and you (BJP) call yourself a sadhu. You have hiked the price of gas cylinders, and not released funds to prepare roads, for the Gramin Awas Yojana… You are nothing but a zamindar of thieves. Today you are in power that is the reason you are moving around with central agencies.. what will happen tomorrow?”

Launching a scathing attack on the BJP, the Trinamool Congress supremo alleged that the BJP was threatening to impose the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

“I will not allow the implementation of the NRC. The BJP has plans to implement NRC before the elections. And they are lying regarding CAA. These are nothing but their political ploy… They just want to divide people,” she said.

The TMC chief claimed while her party was eager to form an alliance with the Congress for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in the state, it was the grand old party that rejected her proposal.

Banerjee recently announced that her party will go alone, and not as part of the opposition bloc INDIA, in the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal.

“We wanted an alliance, but the Congress did not agree. They have joined forces with the CPI(M) to assist the BJP in the elections… We are the one who can fight the BJP in the country,” she added.

Expressing confidence that BJP will lose the election, Banerjee said that after the polls are over, the TMC along with other regional parties would decide on the strategy to form the government in the Centre.

Claiming that party leader Mahua Moitra was disqualified from Lok Sabha in December last year because she was speaking for the common man, Banerjee hinted at making her a candidate for the general elections.

“I am sure that Mahua will again win on the votes of common people,” she said.

The chief minister also cautioned locals about not accepting any identity cards issued by the BSF in the bordering area.

The BSF “must concentrate” on manning the border and keep a check on illegal activities there, she said.

She also instructed DMs, BDOs and SDOs to issue permits to people who need to cross the international border to work and keep an eye on the BSF in this connection.

Accusing the Centre of not releasing funds due to the state under various schemes, Banerjee said that from Friday she would start her scheduled 48-hour dharna in Kolkata.

“After that, different units of our party will continue that till the dues are not paid,” she said.