Angered by the vehemence of the Wednesday’s general strike sponsored by the Left-Congress alliance Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has decided to skip the January 13 all-party meeting called by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
“I will not attend the meeting convened by Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi on Jan 13 in protest against Congress-Left hooliganism during Wednesday's strike,” Banerjee said even as a Trinamool Congress twitter handle declared that the Bengal ruling party will fight against the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register for Citizens alone.
Banerjee was angered by the alleged hooliganism on streets in the name of bandh senior party leader Partho Chatterjee said reminding how the Chief Minister had supported the issues raised by the Front and Congress — related to minimum wage hike, pension, apart from withdrawal of the controversial CAA — “but she opposed the strike because she is against the practice of spoiling mandays in the name of bandhs.”
Both the Left and the Congress had been complaining against the way the State Government had tried to foil the strike through a circular demanding compulsory attendance. The two parties also demanded an impartial investigation into the video footages showing how the men in uniform in Malda’s Sujapur were torching the civilian and police vehicles apparently in a bid to malign the sponsors of the strike.
The Chief Minister’s decision to skip the meet comes a day after the Left-Congress sponsored nationwide bandh against the Central Government’s economic policies.
The CPI(M) and the Congress were “indulging in dirty politics” in Bengal and it would be difficult for her to share a joint platform with them Banerjee reportedly told her colleagues adding she would fight her battle against CAA and NRC on her own. Both the CPI(M) and the Congress promptly returned fire questioning her true intention to fight the BJP. “With the topmost echelon of the TMC trapped in Sharada, Narada and … with their necks in the hands of the CBI she is afraid of the BJP Government which wants her to break the anti-CAA-NRC movement. So she is avoiding the all-party meeting,” senior CPI(M) leader Sujan Charkabarty said.
Congress’ Abdul Mannan said “either the Chief Minister wants to break the opposition solidarity or she the very impact of the strike after many years has unnerved her leading her to sense some kind of alienation which is why she is avoiding the joint meeting.”
Meanwhile the Chief Minister on Thursday led yet another rally in Kolkata leading thousands of people at Barasat in the northern fringes of the city.
Accusing the BJP Government of misleading the people on the refugee issue she said “the BJP is today taking the credit of enacting CAA to provide citizenship to the refugees which is all bunkum. In fact we had provided the refugees lands and other rights after coming to power making them permanent citizenship of India.” She also asked the justifiability of amending CAA and applying it on the refugees who had already been living in the country for decades and taking parts in elections.