Alipurduar: Coming down heavily on the BJP for trying to turn legal citizens of the country into foreigners in the name of NRC and Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a "liar" and said her party will lead the formation of a new government at the Centre.
"The NRC and the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is another ploy to turn legal citizens of this country into refugees. We will not let them implement NRC in Bengal. The BJP should be defeated in order to save the people of this country. The TMC will lead the formation of the new government at the Centre," Banerjee said while addressing an election rally at Barobisha in Alipurduar.
She asserted that the saffron party has been saying that they will give citizenship after six years of stay. What will the families do during that time? How will they access day-to-day necessities? Such crucial questions remain unanswered.
She further took a dig at the Prime Minister branding him a "liar" in connection with the promise of opening the tea gardens in North Bengal which he had promised earlier during a meeting at Madarihat. "He has not opened a single tea garden. He used to call himself chaiwala and now that he has failed miserably, he has changed his appearance and calls himself a chowkidar. His only target is to drive away the Bengalis, Muslims and the Adivasis from the country. Let me warn you, if the BJP wins, the independence of this country and the liberty of its people will be at stake. Freedom of religion will be at stake," she asserted.
The Chief Minister also cautioned the people not to be lured by offers of money by the BJP and cast their votes. She also warned them about BJP candidate John Barla's notorious past. "They have not been able to find a candidate for Alipurduar and have fielded someone (John Barla) who is known for spreading 'riots' in the Hills and Dooars region. They will get zero out of the 42 seats in Bengal," the TMC supremo said.
Later in the day, Banerjee addressed another election meeting at Kalchini in the same district where he slammed the BJP for its inability to build the Ram Mandir. "They only talk of Ram Mandir. But they have not come up with any mandir (shrine)," she maintained. In both the meetings, she gave part of her speech in the local dialect to connect better with the people and appealed to vote for TMC candidate Dasrath Tirkey.