Tentative about her political stance in the initial days of Bihar polls Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee did not lose time on Sunday and quickly extended her congratulations to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for “saving India by his fantastic win.”
Banerjee tweeted “congratulations Nitish Kumarji, laluji and your full team … And all my Bihar brothers and sisters.” Terming the JDU-RJD-Congress grand alliance’s victory as “victory of tolerance” she said in Bihar experienced a “defeat of intolerance.”
She had extended her support for Nitish Kumar only after the third phase of the polls.
While the Bengal Chief Minister also tweeted what she meant by “BJP loss, India saved” saved senior Trinamool Congress leaders clarified her statement saying “people of Bihar saved India by putting a cap communal politics and politics of hatred.”
Party leader Subroto Mukherjee said, “division of voters along communal lines for narrow political wins is never endorsed by the Indian electorate.”
Party spokesperson Derek O’Brien parroted her leader’s lines saying “I must congratulate the grand alliance for its massive victory. It is a victory for unity and not division. It is a victory against arrogance.”
Banerjee had kept her cards close to her chest till the third phase of Bihar polls and only called upon the people of that State to vote for Nitish Kumar when polling had ended in most Bengali-dominated areas in that State.
Commenting on her tweet and belated appeal to the people of Bihar political experts including Bengal Pradesh Congress leaders like OP Mishra said with a number of Trinamool leaders’ names getting dragged in the multi-crore Saradha and other chit fund scams now being probed by the CBI, “it was her compulsion to measure the water before making any comments. Hers is a politics of convenience and she can jump on to any band wagon any day as per her personal interests.”