Giving a small snatch of how they rubbed out the left and the Congress from Bengal, the ruling Trinamool Congress on Wednesday literally “snatched away” a poor tribal couple from saffron fold barely eight days after they merrily hosted BJP president Amit Shah over lunch on April 25 while he was visiting Naxalbari off Siliguri in North Bengal to augment his party’s booth-level connect.
Following intense pressure and threat of life and property for hosting the BJP president, Raju Mahali and his wife Geeta on Wednesday joined the Trinamool Congress in the presence of State Minister Gautam Deb, who allegedly planned the drama, locals said.
“I like Didi’s developmental work and so I joined the Trinamool Congress,” said a glum Geeta who had quite gleefully cooked for Shah and served him the lunch on April 25. When asked as to whether she belonged to any party before Wednesday she said she did not belong to any outfit.
When asked about the reason for abruptly joining the Trinamool, Geeta who is neither an orator nor an organiser parroted what she said earlier but added she had “never liked any party” when asked to explain why she had not joined the Trinamool earlier.
The couple and their two children had gone missing for the past couple of days, thus, forcing the local BJP to gherao the local police station and register a “missing diary” after the station house officer refused to register any formal complaint.
Curiously the couple once again disappeared on Wednesday evening following increased media activity and reports of the national leadership of the BJP taking cognisance of the alleged coercive switch-over.
Reacting to the Wednesday’s event State BJP president Dilip Ghosh the forced takeover would “only make us more determined” adding the incident makes clear to the people of Bengal how afraid the Trinamool Congress has become of a rising BJP.”
He added the Wednesday’s reports including the video clippings of the switchover had been sent to the national leadership. A team of State BJP leaders would also meet the Governor to inform him about the incident, Ghosh said.
While the political pundits said by forcing Mahalis to join the ruling party a nervous Trinamool had only played in the BJP’s hands, the saffron leadership planned a prolonged protest movement.
Facing criticism Deb however said “it is the fundamental right of the people to join the party he wants. So Mahalis have done no wrong by joining the TMC, neither has anyone forced them to join us.”
Former State BJP president Rahul Sinha said “the Mahalis may have been forced to join the TMC physically but in their hearts they continue to be with us,” alleging the BJP workers of Chetla under Bhawanipore constituency of Mamata Banerjee were similarly being threatened by the Trinamool Congress for hosting on April 26.
“We want the Chief Minister to give a statement on the Wednesday’s incident” Sinha said even as she spit venom on the BJP from a public meeting at South Dinajpur saying the “BJP only spreads hatred to win elections.”
She said, “there are parties that only rattle out tall promises but do nothing. To win polls they fan riots and spill blood. So I will request you not to heed their words and join the rioters,” adding instead of giving Bengal its dues the Central Government was only trying to create disturbance in the State.