Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee once again lashed out at the BJP for destroying India’s democratic setup and called upon the people to throw out the Narendra Modi Government from power.
Moments before leaving for Hyderabad, at the invitation of her Andhra Pradesh counterpart Chandrubabu Naidu for delivering a grand alliance (Mahagathbandhan) rally, sponsored by Telugu Demas Party, Banerjee told reporters that under the BJP “our democracy is in danger,” as “dictators are trying to take control of the entire country.”
Naidu had attended the January 19 grand rally of 21 opposition parties organised by Banerjee at the Brigade parade grounds in Kolkata.
Banerjee whose visit to Hyderabad was seen as the culmination of her attempt to stitch together the grand alliance bid she started in Kolkata said, under the Modi Government the interest of the common man was hurt as never before. The Government had “subverted all the democratic institutions and constitution of India,” she added.
Banerjee whose party was facing a stiff challenge from the saffron outfit that had of late witnessed a meteoric rise in Bengal replacing the Left Front as the principal opposition party, said “in the present situation when the common man’s interest is hurt and the country’s democracy is in danger by the this dictatorial regime which has subverted the Constitution the people must unite and vote to throw out the BJP Government from power.”
She said “people have lost their freedom of speech under this Government. Those who speak out in protest are either threatened with government agencies or silenced.”
At this juncture there was a dire necessity not only for the people to unite but also the entire opposition to come together beneath the umbrella of a grand alliance to defeat the despotic power in the Centre.
“It is possible to defeat this autocratic rule. This can only be done if all the opposition parties unite to dislodge them from power,” she said.
On the same day however the CPI(M) which still enjoyed about 20 per cent vote share in the State conceding about a good 15 per cent to the BJP, said the Bengal Chief Minister was the biggest hurdle in the formation of a people’s alliance and that she was in fact an agent of the BJP who was trying to divide the anti-BJP votes to serve her own prime ministerial dreams.
In North Bengal city of Siliguri CPI(M) State secretary Dr Suryakanto Mishra questioned Banerjee’s “shrill cry for Opposition unity,” when she was “herself breaking it to help the BJP Government.”