CM clarion call on Martyrs' Day: BJP Quit India

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, while addressing party workers at Kolkata's annual Martyrs' Day rally on July 21, announced that her party Trinamool Congress (TMC) would launch a programme on August 9 to oust the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The three-week campaign against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre will expand to defeat the saffron party in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Banerjee added.

"We will launch the movement in every Lok Sabha and Assembly constituency, Block, city and village," she emphasised.

"I urge all my ministers, MPs, MLAs and Block leaders to take part in the programme."

She further added: "The Centre is not allowing state governments to work. We are not its servants."

Launching the party's campaign for 2019 from the dais, she said: "The country should be saved from the BJP's clutches. In the name of gau rakshaks, they have become 'gau raakshas' and we must get rid of them," Trinamool Congress supremo said.

August 9 marks the 75th year of the Quit India movement, demanding an end to British rule. Similarly, the TMC will begin their campaign "BJP Quit India" from August 9.

Banerjee said 18 opposition parties had come together and supported joint candidate Meira Kumar in the just-concluded presidential election. "This platform will expand in future to defeat BJP which thinks that it will have a cakewalk in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll. Things will not be that easy (for BJP)," she said.

The campaign to oust BJP will be held in every district up to the Block level and the party's MPs, MLAs, councillors, commissioners and members of Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samity and Zilla Parishad will take part in the programme to build intense contact with the people. "We must go to the people and tell them about BJP's conspiracy to organise riots in Bengal to divide the state. All workers and leaders should take the campaign seriously and thwart every attempt to divide the state on the basis of religion."

On July 27, Nanur Day will be observed in Birbhum. July 21, 2018, will be observed as a "day to take a pledge to save the country from the BJP's misrule."

Adding that no one was safe under the BJP's rule in the country, she said: "Nobel laureate Amartya Sen is not safe and so is journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta. He had to quit his job. Except for a few television channels, all have been sold out to the BJP and they are letting loose Central government agencies against journalists and media houses who are opposing them. It is a state of super Emergency."

She urged the masses to remain extremely vigilant against those who were trying to create communal disturbance in various areas. "BJP has converted the Facebook into 'fakebook' and is uploading all sorts of false news. People should raise their voice against this deliberate attempt to spread canards against Trinamool and report to the police if they see any objectionable post or that which incites communal tension in social media."

The BJP is even trying to control food habits and imposing unnecessary dress codes. "Even pregnant women are not allowed to eat eggs in Madhya Pradesh," she said.

Banerjee said winning the 2019 Lok Sabha polls will not be a cakewalk for the BJP. "TDP, Nitish Kumar, Laluji, Arvind Kejriwal, Congress and CPI(M) will all fight separately in the Lok Sabha polls and it will not be easy for the BJP and it will not get more than 30 percent votes. In the Vice-Presidential election, two more parties will support the Opposition and this election will also be tough for the BJP."

The CM said the party will file a defamation case against the CBI if it continues to harass senior party leaders. She added that TMC leaders have been questioned by the CBI which is taking several years to frame charges against the accused. "Complete inquiry and file charge-sheet. That's what they should do. Instead, the CBI is harassing the senior leaders to distract the people's attention from bigger issues."

Criticising the Centre, Banerjee said India's relations with foreign countries had taken a nosedive under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration. The Chief Minister also claimed that the Centre was not allowing state governments to work independently.

"Why can't it improve relations with Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh which have borders with Bengal," she asked.

"The country's GDP has fallen, the service sector has been badly affected and lakhs of people have lost their jobs due to the note ban. She reiterated that the note ban and GST are the biggest scams of recent times and demanded an inquiry into the demonetisation drive. The Reserve Bank of India has failed to give a figure regarding the amount of black money that has been recovered and so an inquiry should be conducted to bring out the true picture."

She further claimed: "Everyone starting from the jewellers, sweetmeat sellers, shopkeepers to the big industrialists are impacted by the GST. Business in several sectors has either ceased or has been severely downsized. The Indian economy has crashed."

Banerjee urged party workers to ensure the victory of the candidates in the Panchayat elections scheduled to be held in 2018 and the forthcoming civic polls in seven municipalities. "Work together and ensure that all candidates win by handsome margins." More reports on P3