TMC practices 'syndicate of the people', says Abhishek
Kolkata: Abhishek Banerjee, Trinamool Congress MP and president of the party's youth wing, has urged people to help Trinamool Congress candidates win all the 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal and ensure that the BJP does not get a single seat.
Addressing a counter-rally at Midnapore College Grounds where Prime Minister Narendra Modi had addressed a meeting on July 16, Banerjee said: "Our supremo Mamata Banerjee had set a target for the party to defeat the BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha election at the Martyr's Day programme held on July 21. She had said we have to win all the 42 seats in the state and oust the saffron party from the Centre in 2019."
"They (BJP) had claimed that they would win 22 seats. We have to ensure that they do not even win that much seats in the state. Let us take a pledge to oust the BJP from Delhi in 2019 and establish a government that will ensure communal harmony, benefit of the farmers and advancement of health and education," he added.
Taking a dig at the Prime Minister, who had alleged that the ruling Trinamool Congress runs a syndicate raj in the state, Banerjee stated: "I admit that the Trinamool Congress is running a syndicate. It has been practicing the "syndicate of the people" that ended 34 years of Left Front Rule in the state in 2011, established peace in Maoist-affected Junglemahal and restored tranquility in Darjeeling hills by breaking the unholy nexus of Bimal Gurung and Roshan Giri. We are forming a new people's syndicate in the days to come to topple the BJP government
from power".
Banerjee also reiterated that Modi had done very little for the Hindus in the country. Accusing the BJP of creating a rift between the Hindus and the Muslims, he said: "We will not let that happen".
He also mentioned that the PM had taken up a project of cleaning River Ganga (Namami Gange) and allocated a budget of Rs 3,000 crore but not even a pond was cleaned.
He further alleged that the BJP had brought people from four neighbouring states and 10 neighbouring districts for the Prime Minister's rally.
"There were vehicles from states like Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha, while it was difficult to spot even a single farmer, despite calling it as a farmer's welfare meeting," he maintained. He dared the Prime Minister to organise a similar programme in states like Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh that had witnessed a number of farmer suicides.
Apart from Banerjee, senior TMC leaders like Partha Chatterjee, Suvendu Adhikari, Firhad Hakim, Subrata Bakshi also claimed that the TMC would win all the 42 seats in the state and the BJP would not be able to win a single seat.