Will win Bengal on one leg: Mamata
Chinsurah: Confident of a landslide victory a day ahead of the third phase of the "staggering eight-phase" elections, Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee on Monday asserted that she will win the Bengal Assembly elections with one leg and subsequently aim to win Delhi on two.
"They have injured my leg to restrict me from carrying out campaigns for my candidates. But they are unaware of my will power. Do not forget I am a street fighter. I will win this (Assembly polls) on one leg and Delhi with two," she said while addressing a mammoth rally at Chinsurah in Hooghly district on Monday.
Reiterating the "outsider issue", Banerjee said she carries an attitude similar to that of a Royal Bengal Tiger and will never allow Bengal to be ruled by Gujarat.
It needs mention that Banerjee resumed her poll campaign in a wheelchair within 72 hours after suffering severe injuries on her left leg when allegedly attacked at Nandigram on March 10.
Training her guns at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home minister Amit Shah for remaining seated in Kolkata along with all their ministers just to "loot Bengal" without giving any significance to the country's development, Banerjee criticised the BJP-led Centre for Chhattishgarh's Maoist attack on Sunday that killed 22 jawans.
In the same breath, she took a dig at BJP MPs, including Locket Chatterjee and Babul Supriyo, who are also contesting in Assembly polls due to a dearth of (BJP) leaders, for their "deep-rooted involvement in Rose Valley and Saradha Group scams".
While addressing the rally at Bhangar, Banerjee stated how her government has ensured the maintenance of harmony and peace in the state besides carrying out an overall development. "Many say that I do Muslim appeasement. But keep one thing in mind that since I am here both Hindus and Muslims are living in Bengal in peace and witnessing sustainable development," she said.
Accusing the Election Commission (EC) of holding a staggering eight-phase election in Bengal following BJP's instructions as per the party's 'mandals' without considering hazards people would face due to Covid, the Trinamool Congress supremo said midway suspension of the election process citing a spike in cases after realising that the saffron camp will be defeated will not be tolerated at any cost.
"Elections in Assam and Tamil Nadu are taking place in one or two phases.
They are holding eight-phase elections in Bengal just to defame the state and secondly without considering the health hazards that people would face due to the pandemic. The Covid situation in Bengal is better but the number of cases in many parts of the country is getting multiplied every day. They should have conducted the polls here in two to three phases. They will surely suggest suspension of the election showing Covid as a reason. It will be nothing apart from one of their many tricks. The reason being they have realised that they have lost the match. But I would like to say that we will not tolerate all this. Since the election process has started, it has to be completed," Banerjee said.
This comes when the number of Covid cases in Bengal was 1,961 on April 5 with reports of four deaths due to the disease.
Banerjee took a dig at the Modi government for not providing vaccine doses to the Bengal government despite it wanting to procure it so that it can be administered to everyone in the state. "Despite writing to the Centre, they did not provide us with the same. This comes when we were ready to buy the doses. Basically, they are busy saving their own interests and it hardly matters to them even if people die without getting a vaccine," she said.
