‘Save India, save democracy’: Mamata’s clarion call for Mission 2024

Calling for Opposition unity to oust BJP from power, Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee said on Wednesday that the Lok Sabha elections slated to be held next year will be a fight between the BJP and the people of this country. She urged all Opposition parties to come together to put an end to alleged misrule of the BJP and save the Indian democracy.

Banerjee announced that TMC will join hands with former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav to fight against BJP there.

“There will be a one-to-one fight between BJP and the common people of the country. It is not necessary to ascertain who will be the leader of the country as I believe that every single citizen of the country is a leader and we all have to be united to oust the BJP from power,” Banerjee said from the dais of her dharna in front of the Ambedkar Statue at Red Road.

Banerjee started the 30-hour sit-in demonstration from noon on Wednesday to protest against the Centre’s alleged discriminative behaviour towards Bengal. The protest will continue till 6 pm on Thursday.

She asserted that all the Opposition parties are being subjected to harassment by the BJP which has been unleashing the central agencies against all leaders who have been raising their voices against them.

Banerjee claimed that the NDA had started with 17 regional parties with them, but now 16 parties have estranged themselves due to the saffron party’s anti-people policies. “BJP is in power in UP and has somehow managed Madhya Pradesh. How will they manage to win in Bihar, Rajasthan, Odisha, Punjab, Karnataka, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Delhi with people not supporting them? They have deprived the wages of labourers of 100 days’ work and so they will be getting a big zero in the forthcoming polls,” she maintained.

In a stern warning to the BJP, Banerjee made it clear that the administration will adopt zero tolerance when it comes to religious provocation on Ram Navami scheduled on Thursday. “If somebody tries to create acrimony in a Muslim-dominated area through the Ram Navami procession, the law will take its own course. The BJP leaders have been saying that they will be armed with weapons while holding Ram Navami processions. No such procession will be stopped but if there is any disturbance, we can also organise processions to counter the same. Ram has never talked of engineering riots,” Banerjee said.

The dharna manch was a testimony to a unique way of protesting against the alleged discriminatory attitude of the central agencies at the behest of the BJP government at the Centre. A cut-out of a washing machine was brought and black clothes were put inside them which symbolically “turned white”.

It was a way to show that leaders who have defected to the saffron side have been washed through the machine and in spite of allegations against them, they have not faced interrogation by the agencies. However, the non-BJP leaders, including those of the TMC, are being continuously subjected to harassment.

“People were asking me whether I am demonstrating on behalf of the state government or the Trinamool Congress. I would like to tell them that I have two responsibilities. I am the Chief Minister of West Bengal and also the TMC chairperson. So, as the Chief Minister when I see the people of my state suffering, it’s my responsibility to look into that.

“Since this is the government of the TMC, I will say that I am conducting this demonstration on behalf of my party and not for the state government. You can see my party’s symbol,” Banerjee said and maintained that if the need arises, she is ready to stage a similar dharna in front of the Prime Minister’s house in New Delhi as well.

“You can see that we have kept a copy of the Constitution here because we have respect for it, along with India’s democracy and secularism. From here, I will give a call for ‘save India, save democracy’,” she said.

Banerjee also took a dig at the CPM leaders who have extended support to a section of government employees agitating over the demand for Dearness Allowance (DA) at par with the Centre. “Thieves and dacoits are sitting with the DA agitators. They had bagged their jobs in an illegal manner and now they are raising voices against job irregularities,” she added.