Subscribe Now! Get features like
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday drew a parallel between arrests made by the Indira Gandhi-led Congress government during Emergency and those being made today by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime using federal agencies, saying both were done with an eye on electoral gains.
Speaking at a government event in Birbhum district, Banerjee, whose Trinamool Congress (TMC) has already declared to go solo in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls dealing a major blow to the opposition INDIA bloc, accused the Congress of joining hands with the BJP.
“During the Emergency, 2,000 people were put in jail. Indira Gandhi thought she would win the elections (in 1977), but she lost. Today, the BJP is using ED and CBI for elections,” Banerjee alleged.
Referring to a series of high-profile arrests of TMC leaders, including party’s Birbhum unit president Anubrata Mondal, by federal agencies in various cases, Banerjee said: “There can be allegations but how can people be kept in jail year after year without trial? A conspiracy has been hatched in Birbhum. Kesto (as Mondal is fondly called) is in jail for so long. If there is any allegation against him, then he has the right to defend himself.”
Mondal was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in August 2022 in a cattle-smuggling case. His daughter was also arrested later and both are currently lodged in judicial custody in Delhi’s Tihar Jail pending trial.
The TMC chief further said: “The BJP, Congress and CPI(M) have joined hands. You saw this in the last Lok Sabha, assembly and panchayat polls.”
While the TMC swept the 2021 assembly polls and panchayat elections last year, it faced a setback in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as the BJP wrested 18 of state’s 42 parliamentary seats.
Reacting to her comments, state Congress leader Koustav Bagchi said: “In an interview to BBC, Indira Gandhi said she thought arresting those people was necessary under those circumstances but later realised that it was a mistake. Mamata Banerjee should realise that those arrested during Emergency did not face charges of smuggling cattle, coal and rice like her leaders.”
Banerjee also accused the Union government of cancelling Aadhaar cards of several people in West Bengal.
“The Aadhar cards of 50 people at Jamalpur in (West) Burdwan district have been cancelled. This has happened in Birbhum, North and South 24 Parganas districts and the north Bengal region as well. This is a conspiracy,” she alleged and ordered state’s bureaucrats to launch a portal for the people to register complaints if their Aadhaar cards have been cancelled.
“The elections will be declared in one month. Those who are not enrolled as voters must get it done as soon as possible. Aadhaar or no Aadhaar, none of our schemes will be stopped,” she said.
The BJP rejected her allegations, terming them “lies”. State BJP leader Sajal Ghosh said: “Mamata Banerjee is telling lies to secure votes. Aadhaar cards of many people are suspended if they do not link it to their PAN card and update their bank records.”
Mamata takes on BJP by invoking Emergency – Hindustan Times
Leave a comment