Mamata Banerjee dares Centre to impose President's rule in West Bengal, arrest her

Kolkata: A day after the arrest of Trinamool law-maker Srinjoy Bose over his alleged involvement in the Saradha chit fund scam, party chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday launched a blistering attack against the Modi government, daring it to arrest her.

"Amake jail-e pathak, dekhe nebo (Let them send me to jail, I will see to it. I will see how big a jail is there," Ms Banerjee said addressing a party meeting in Kolkata attended by MPs, ministers and MLAs.

"If we are hit, we will retaliate. We accept all challenges," Ms Banerjee said.

She told party workers not to 'fear the BJP', asking them to unite against the "conspiracies of the saffron party".

Daring the Centre to impose President's Rule in the state, she said, "I challenge them to impose President's Rule. We will reply through ballots. We are not slaves of power. We only work for people. We will organise protest against selective vendetta against us."

"They want to silence all voices of dissent. Even Sonia Gandhi is not opening out. They are afraid of me, hence they are engaging in conspiracies," Ms Banerjee said.

"Our fight against political vendetta has started. They have attacked us, we will reply politically," she said with several thousands of party workers from different districts assembled at the Netaji Indoor Stadium and even outside.

Referring to the arrest of her party MP Srinjoy Bose on Friday, Ms Banerjee claimed that the BJP was actually targeting her because she attended a Congress-organised event in Delhi recently to mark Jawaharlal Nehru's 125 birth anniversary.

"Just because I went to Delhi to attend a conclave of secular parties, they took revenge by arresting our MP," Ms Banerjee said adding, "I take up this challenge and I will attend such programmes for secularism a hundred and thousand times".

"I do not need any certificate of my credentials from them. My credentials are known to the people of Bengal," she said, adding, "Why anyone did not question the BJP about how they spent crores of rupees in elections."

"Those who have several cases of rioting against them, how can they point fingers at us? They want to finish secularism. They want to finish regional parties," she said targeting the BJP-led government at the Centre.

The chief minister observed that they were jealous because her government was doing good work.

"Political parties may come and go, but democracy and government will continue forever. Other political leaders are silent because they are afraid. But I fear no one. I cannot be silenced," she asserted.

Targeting Modi, she said, "the man in charge of the nation... How much time has he spent in India in the past six months after taking over office? It seems his address is now located abroad".

In an obvious reference to the recent Supreme Court order of removing CBI Director Ranjit Sinha from the 2G case, she said, "I salute the Supreme Court. The CBI's credentials have been spelt out. I tend to think whether or nor CBI should be constituted afresh after the verdict."

Continuing her tirade against Narendra Modi, she quipped, "They have named a scheme 'Swachh Bharat'....First, they should look for a 'Swachh Admi',".

She reminded the gathering that her party would not engage in petty politics, carry on with their development agenda and work for the people.

"Running a nation is no mean feat. The leader is someone who can take all the people along with him," she said.

Alleging there was unrest in the country after BJP came to power, she said, "they have instigated riots across India in the last few months - from Gujarat to Maharashtra. Even Delhi was not spared. BJP came to power with just 31 per cent of votes. 69 per cent people of India do not support them."

She alleged that the BJP had bought the media before the elections and a section of them was acting in the party's interest.

A section of the media, she alleged further, was acting to serve the interest of the BJP and engaged in "all sorts of canards" against her party and the government in a bid to discredit it.

Continuing her no-hold-barred attack against the BJP-led government, Banerjee said, while everyone has put leucoplast (adhesive tape) on their mouth out of fear of Narendra Modi, she cannot be silenced.

"Don't show red eyes to us. We are not dependent on you. The place of Dharma Gurus has been taken over by Danga Gurus. A battle lies ahead. We have to keep fighting," she said.

The West Bengal CM said, during Lok Sabha elections Narendra Modi had said he would send away all refugees from Bangladesh. "We oppose that. Not everyone is infiltrator".

Regarding Saradha scam, she said, "they are protecting those who cheated people. They are investigating who cheated Saradha. Why are they not returning money to people."

"Chit funds were formed when Left was in power. We arrested the owner of Saradha. We formed a judicial commission," Banerjee said, adding that "Chit fund registration was done following Central Government's rules. "Saradha was formed when UPA was in power. Why did they not act," Banerjee said.