Siyasat.net web desk
Kolkatta : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday said those who don’t respect Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore are claiming to build “Sonar Bangla”.
“Conspiracies are being hatched to destroy the culture of Bengal. Stop this politics of violence and divisive politics,” CM Banerjee said while addressing a political rally at Bolpur in Birbhum district.
West Bengal Chief Minister concluded her mega roadshow in Bolpur, first this election season with an open dare for the BJP. Calling the saffron party ‘a hate machine’, she accused BJP of spreading fake stories and videos to evoke hatred among people. According to her, BJP’s ‘mission 200’ for Bengal will fall flat. In a direct response to the target set by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Ms Banerjee claimed that BJP will not even win 30 out of 294 assembly seats in the state which would go for polling in 2021.
She added that she won’t allow her state to become Gujarat.We have to respect and save our soil. No one can destroy Bengal. We will not allow Bengal to become Gujarat
Please don’t allow anyone to divide. If someone says ‘Inquilab’ I don’t have any problem same for Netaji’s ‘Jai Hind’, all are from the soil of Bengal,” said Banerjee.
“But we are all a family together. That is mankind. Fight hard against those who want to divide it. Don’t be afraid,” Banerjee said
“Those who don’t respect Mahatma Gandhi and other icons of the country are talking of building ‘Sonar Bangla’ (Golden Bengal). Rabindranath Tagore has already created ‘Sonar Bangla’ several decades ago, all we need to do is to protect the place from the communal onslaught of the BJP,” she said.
The Chief Minister also accused the BJP of maligning the heritage of Visva Bharati University (VBU), in a reference to the letter sent by the varsity to Nobel laureate Amartya Sen for allegedly illegally occupying the land belonging to it. “I don’t like it when I see dirty politics going on around Visva-Bharati. That narrow, hateful politics has been imported all over Bengal. Attempts are being made to cultivate the politics of hatred in the name of Hinduism
“Visva-Bharati vice-chancellor is a BJP man; he is pursuing communal politics, maligning heritage of varsity,” she said.
Visva-Bharati Vice Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty recently drew the ire of Mamata government after he accused Sen of occupying varsity land illegally. Sen has maintained that the land is registered in records and is on a long-term lease.
The TMC supremo also accused the saffron party of “buying” TMC MLAs ahead of next year’s state Assembly elections. “The grassroots cannot be eliminated by buying rotten MLAs with money. Do not try to drive a nail into the rock. The nail will break,” she said.
Describing Home Minister Amit Shah’s recent visit to a folk singer’s residence here for lunch on December 20 as nothing short of “show off”, Banerjee claimed that the food items served to the BJP leader were cooked at five-star hotels.
“BJP is getting outsiders to capture Bengal. They are doing hate politics. Those who are spreading hatred through fake videos and pictures, they will be stalled by the people of Bengal. They are outsiders who want to break the spine of Bengal. I dare them, BJP should first win 30 seats before dreaming for 200. BJP will be rejected by Bengal” Mamata Banerjee lashed out at the roadshow on Tuesday.
(www.siyasat.net is Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India based Website, powered by Gujarat siyasat, a fortnightly)