Will make BJP chant 'Jai Sia Ram' by the end of polls: Abhishek

Kulpi: Trinamool Youth Congress president Abhishek Banerjee while addressing a mammoth public rally here on Saturday asserted that TMC will secure over 250 seats in the forthcoming elections and added that the saffron party's clamour for a double-engine government in Bengal (same party rule in the Centre as well as state) will fall flat before the single-engine power of Mamata Banerjee.

Reacting sharply to a statement given by Dilip Ghosh, the state BJP president, on Friday that Ram's ancestry is known and that he was the son of a king while Maa Durga has sneaked into the scene. The TMC leader said: "They say Jai Shri Ram and not Jai Sia Ram. This is because they don't know how to give respect to women." The TMC youth wing chief also alleged that women are tortured in BJP-ruled states like Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh.

Urging people to chant 'Jai Sia Ram', replacing BJP's 'Jai Shri Ram' slogan, coined during the demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992, he stated that by the end of polls, the saffron brigade will also be forced to chant 'Jai Sia Ram'.

Addressing the rally in South 24-Parganas, Abhishek said: "BJP has no respect for women. In the states ruled by them, women are abused, raped and killed. We have respect for Ram who donated his eyes to Maa Durga. Ram's name is always uttered with Sita and this has been India's custom for hundreds of years. Whenever they say Jai Shri Ram, counter it and chant Jai Sia Ram."

Citing that the saffron party is bringing a 'bunch of outsiders' to Bengal, he said: "Our Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will stand here like Maa Durga to fight against the BJP which is bringing in outsiders and using weapons like the CBI and ED."

Abhishek also claimed that the saffron party is trying to influence farmers of the state by promising them Rs 18,000 in their accounts if elected to power, but "Bengal will never sell its spine to the BJP".

The TMC MP remarked: "Bengal is the only state where people are getting free ration and education. BJP should first think of Gujarat, UP and other states. No need to worry about Bengal. Outsiders will not rule here."

Stating that the BJP is afraid of Mamata Banerjee, he said: "To counter her who wears a chappal and lives in a simple house and has carried out all-round development in Bengal, a mortally scared BJP has fielded the Prime Minister, Home Minister, Defence Minister, its party president, dozens of other ministers, including the chief ministers of different states. However, they will not be able to reap any benefit as Didi lives in people's hearts."

Criticising Amit Shah for "lying" to the Matua community, he said it is really funny that the CAA will be implemented only after the Covid vaccination process is completed. "It will take 10 years to complete it. But he did not have the guts to say that CAA will not be implemented," Abhishek said, adding: "CAA was passed in Parliament in December 2019, but BJP has failed to even frame rules and is now using the pandemic as an escape route."

The MP further added: "Are the Matuas not Indian citizens? Then how did the vote for the party of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister? In such a situation, they should resign."

Without naming Dinesh Trivedi who said he felt "suffocated while working in TMC," Abhishek said: " If one feels suffocated in TMC then after joining BJP they will be in ICU. Soon, they will find it difficult to breathe because people will never forgive traitors as they have played with their sentiments."