Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday slammed the Uttar Pradesh Government for throttling the voices of dissent even as she expressed shock over the killing of journalist Vikram Joshi who was gunned down in Ghaziabad.
Expressing her condolences she said, “My heartfelt condolences to the family of Vikram Joshi, a fearless journalist who passed away today.” He was shot in UP for filing an FIR to book his niece’s molesters.
She added, “An atmosphere of fear has been created in the country. Voices are being muzzled and even media is not spared. Shocking.”
Banerjee had from a mass virtual rally on Tuesday said the BJP Government was not only threatening the dissenting people and chocking their voices but also using the central agencies to suppress them.
“There are fear of bullet, jail and so many other things but I don’t fear bullet, gun or any Agency. They will try to choke my voice but I will come out stronger,” she said.
Meanwhile, Banerjee is likely to hold a virtual meeting of the Trinamool Congress leaders on Thursday apparently to decide on electoral strategies. Her decision comes a day after promising in a virtual rally to decimate the BJP in the next year’s Assembly elections.
The Chief Minister is likely to instruct the regional satraps to rise above narrow personal interests and work in a united manner, insiders said.
“Though the TMC unites in the name of Mamata Banerjee there are reports coming that there are a lot of intra-party feud at the local levels. The Chief Minister wants the local leadership to address the issues and work united,” said a Minister and MLA from Kolkata.
Banerjee is also likely to tell the district leadership to start searching for non-controversial and popular faces, sources said, adding she would also ask the leaders to begin a reach-out programme.
“As mass connect is the key she is likely to ask the leaders to launch house-to-house contact programmes so that the general grievances of the people can be assessed and later addressed,” another senior TMC leader and MLA from North 24 Parganas said.
However the most important thing the Chief Minister is likely to focus on is “counter-propaganda for the BJP’s regular disinformation campaign.”
According to this leader “the BJP is getting its oxygen from the Left cadres who have suddenly started backing that party … it is not possible for rigidly conscious cadres of the CPI(M) to turn to extreme right overnight. So it seems that there is a plan that has been hatched by the Left use the BJP to bring down the TMC Government otherwise they would not have got 40 percent votes in the general elections… Our Chief Minister is aware of this and that it why she asked the CPI(M) workers not to commit a big mistake by backing the BJP from behind.”