The Trinamool Congress once again invoked the Bengali 'asmita' (Bengali pride) and central deprivation of Bengal to attack the BJP ahead of the general elections even as its top leaders Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew and party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said that Bengal would never surrender to Delhi.
This, even as they attacked the Centre for withholding the State's dues and through a brief documentary film --- prepared by the party's event management team and shown from a giant screen at the historic Brigade Parade Ground --- told people how the Bengali icons like Ramakrishna Parmarahansa, Mother Sharada Devi, Rabindranath Tagore and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had times and again been insulted by the saffron leaders who had no regard for Bengal and its culture.
Launching a no-holds-barred attack on the saffron government the Chief Minister said how the Centre had despite repeated requests refused to pay the MNREGA wages of the poor 59 lakh people of Bengal.
"Modi babu alleges that they had sent the money and we have misappropriated them but I will ask him not to speak whatever his officers tell him … he should first read and then talk about things … they have not paid us anything … they are taking away GST from Bengal and not returning our share … as they have not made payments of the MNREGA funds we had to give them from the State's funds … they have withheld funds for basic infrastructure projects like roads and Awaas Yojna houses … and if by May 1 they do not make these payments we will construct 11 lakh houses from our own resources," Banerjee said.
Attacking the Prime Minister for going on inauguration spree she said, "all the metro projects that he is cutting ribbons today were sanctioned by me when I was the Railways Minister and now they come and cut ribbons and take the credit before the elections."
Linking the resignation of an Election Commissioner with what she said "torture of Bengal" she said, "yesterday an Election Commissioner resigned just only to protest against attempts being made to forcibly capture Bengal with the help of central forces."
Referring to the reduction of LPG prices against a backdrop of steep inflationary trends she said, "today he (Prime Minister) is taking credit for reducing LPG prices by Rs 100 but why did it go up after all … they have made Rs 70,000 crore from cooking price only … before the elections they are reducing the prices and then after the elections they will increase it by Rs 1000 … they are increasing prices of everything from Kerosine to fertilizers … who will account for this." Apparently targeting the minority audience and referring to BJP leaders' promise to implement Citizenship Amendment Act the Chief Minister said "they are telling that they will implement CAA and then NRC and then they will send you to Bangladesh … but I will not let that happen … in Bengal no one will go to detention camps."
Abhishek Banerjee in his part vowed "Bengal will never bow before Delhi," and "we will not be swayed by what the outsiders (read national BJP leaders) say … they will come and go but Mamat Banerjee will remain to serve the people … these outsiders have no regards for Bengal and its culture, its heritage … they only come to insult us and torture our people … but we will never submit before them."