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Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday called upon all the States to form a “union of states” to counter central harassment and linked it to a credible unity of opposition parties in order to get rid of the Narendra Modi Government.
The Chief Minister who met Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait at State secretariat Nabanna in Kolkata said a time had come when “there should be a union of the States in order to save the federal structure of the country … so that whenever a state government is harassed by the Centre all the states can stand behind that state and take on the central government.”
This was “necessary to save the federal structure of the country which is threatened by the incidents that are taking place for the past several years,” Banerjee said, throwing her weight behind the BKU which has been fighting against the Centre for the repealing of new farm laws that would in the final run “lead to complete corporatization of agriculture and impoverishment of peasants.” Apart from Banerjee her senior party colleague and former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha --- as former BJP leader --- too met the delegation led by Tikait.
“The farmers, youth and workers of the country are under threat … their future is in danger … it is an urgent need to throw out the Black (farm) laws along with its creator the BJP Government,” Banerjee said.
On whether she would like to lead the larger unity of opposition parties or for that matter the UPA against the BJP, Banerjee skirted the issue saying “I only want to remove the Government this … I only want to remove Narendra Modi … they are torturing the entire country for the past several years… my full support is for Tikait ji and the farm leaders and I will call upon him to unite all the farmers of UP, Punjab, Haryana and the country against Modi Government … my support is fully with him.”
There has been a buzz in the social media circles and also in the Trinamool Congress about Banerjee’s prime ministerial plans. In fact the elevation of her nephew Abhishek Banerjee as the national party general secretary is considered a step towards taking TMC to other States and preparing the junior Banerjee for the Bengal masnad.
Attacking New Delhi for its insensitive approach towards the farmers’ cause she said, “For the last 7 months, they (Centre) didn't bother to speak to farmers. I demand that all three farm laws are withdrawn,” reminding how her Government had earlier “passed the resolution against the farm laws. We are with farmers, with their movement until their demands are met.”
Alleging that the GST was being levied though the industries were suffering, Banerjee said “even medicines and vaccines are not being spared from GST.”
In return Tikait lauded Banerjee for standing firmly behind the farmers. “The Chief Minister assured us that she will continue to support the farmers' movement. We thank her for this assurance. West Bengal should work as a model state and farmers should be given more benefits,” he said.
On whether he had faith in Banerjee’s ability to lead the country the farm leader said “she has saved Bengal from BJP now I will request her to take a lead in saving India from this party as they are against the interests of the farmer, poor and workers,” adding his party would make a coordination team to fight off the black laws. “Mamata didi has supported our idea of a joint fight,” he maintained.