Mamata Banerjee has written a poem laying into the Narendra Modi Government — which she calls a ‘selfish giant’ — for bringing the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register for Citizens in a bid to turn a united India into a land of discrimination.
Titled “Adhikar” or Right the poem asks the power that be as to who has given them the right to trample upon the rights of the people.
The poem which the Bengal Chief Minister has posted on the Facebook opens with the words saying “I cannot identify with this country. This is not the place of my birth. I was born in Bharatvarsh (India), which never taught us to discriminate (among people) … My right belongs to me … why shall someone trample on it … I condemn you … shame on you.”
Expressing the current state of affairs in the country and calling the controversial decisions taken by the government as “instrument of hate” Banerjee adds “those who disseminate hate will now only cry. Your speeches are laced with poison … you are snatching man’s right.”
The Chief Minister who had earlier written a poem titled Nagorik (Citizen) on a similar issue also goes on to write that “we want unity, not hate. This is our pledge. We are all citizens. Our addressis ‘Right’.
In an apparent reminder of the demonetization days when the people had to stand in long rows Banerjee writes that the CAA and NRC too are selfish giants that will make the people stand in queues.
“NRC, CAA are selfish giants … We won’t prove us (identities) in queues … poor will stand in queue and you’ll hoodwink them,” she pens on adding “we’ll never allow division of our country. Let India remain united … down with divisive forces. We are all citizens won’t take CAA, NRC,” she writes.
A strong critic of the Modi Government the Chief Minister has been leading long rallies on streets for the past one week, mobilising lakhs of TMC supporters.
Drawing instant criticism from State Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar for publicly defying a Central Act while sitting on a constitutional post, Banerjee has already gone on record that she would not allow CAA or NRC in Bengal. Earlier she told in a rally that “till I am alive, till I am there at the helm there will be no CAA, no NRC in Bengal.
Banerjee on Sunday led similar anti-CAA rallies in Purulia district before proceeding to neighbouring Jharkhand where she attended the swearing-in ceremony of incumbent Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
