In a circuitous acceptance of the BJP as her main challenger in Bengal, Chief Minister on Monday came out all guns blazing against the saffron outfit charging it with an attempt to communalise Bengal and vowing to render the party into a cipher by 2019 general elections.
In a no-holds-barred attack on the Central Government for “triggering price hike” soon after coming to power in alleged contravention of their pre-electoral promises Banerjee told a mammoth Trinamool Martyrs’ Day rally in Kolkata that “there are some outfits that do diametrically opposite of what they promise before the elections.”
She thundered, “The BJP had offered one thing before the elections and after they have come to power they are doing just the opposite. They have increased price of cooking gas and petroleum. They have also hiked the Railway fare triggering inflation. So we will launch a democratic movement against the BJP.”
Vowing to bring down BJP’s lok Sabha tally from Bengal to zero from two in 2019 Banerjee said the BJP owed its rise to media campaign and paid advertisements unlike her party which worked among the people to come to power. She said “unlike us there parties that spread their base by spending thousands of crores through media campaigns and advertisements. The BJP has got so many seats because of advertisements which we could not as we are a party of the poor and do not have so much of money.”
The BJP had only one seat before these elections, she said adding “Now after getting two seats they are behaving as if that they have won the entire West Bengal. I will show them that there is no place for a communal outfit in secular Bengal. They will be erased here completely. Today they have two seats. Tomorrow the will be left with no seats in this State.”
The Trinamool was destined to give India the leadership of the future she said. Though Banerjee’s politics had been based on anti-CPI(M) plank since 1977 her Monday’s attack on the BJP tended to surprise none particularly against the backdrop of massive polarisation in the State politics after the lok Sabha elections with the left and Congress workers migrating either to the Trinamool or the left BJP.
Bringing an indirect reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remark in an election rally on suspicious sale of painting drawn by Banerjee for astronomical prices Banerjee said “people have been raising questions on sale of my paintings. I ask them where will I bring money from to run my party. Unlike them we are a poor party and have to run it by selling these pictures. What shall I sell paintings or hard cash as they do!”
Meanwhile, rejecting Banerjee’s claim that BJP was communalising Bengal party State president Rahul Sinha said “it is the other way round. It is the Trinamool that has communalised the State and not the BJP.” He further said the BJP would launch its own rally on November 30 as Utthan Diwas or Emergence Day.