Didi Says 'Do Or Die', Vows To Defeat BJP If Alive
The former chief minister took the pledge after sitting in a two-hour dharna over the statewide post-poll violence and several other issues with her party MLAs and MPs in front of TMC supporters at Y Channel in the heart of the city: Esplanade in the afternoon.
Kolkata: Stepping out of home for the first time after losing power in West Bengal, Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee emerged in her popular avatar of a street fighter and opposition face again on Tuesday with the calls for “Do or Die” and a vow to defeat BJP if she survives.
The former chief minister took the pledge after sitting in a two-hour dharna over the statewide post-poll violence and several other issues with her party MLAs and MPs in front of TMC supporters at Y Channel in the heart of the city: Esplanade in the afternoon. She also tore into the BJP for trying to break TMC.
Ms Banerjee, who had confined herself to her residence on Harish Chatterjee Street in Kalighat since the announcement of Assembly Election results on May 4, reached the venue of her agitation after paying tributes to B R Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi statues near Red Road in the Maidan area.
“Karenge ya Marenge (Do or Die) until we can democratically and politically tackle those who are unleashing atrocities and state-sponsored anarchy. Larenge ya Marenge (Fight or Die). Agar Jiyenge Toh Larenge (Will fight if alive). Aur Agar Jiyenge Toh BJP Ko Hatake Hi Jayenge (And if we remain alive, we will ensure BJP's ouster),” Ms Banerjee told the crowd.
She then lashed out at the BJP government for ordering the Kolkata Police to offer her party a tiny space for the protest instead of a larger one and threatened to organise sit-in demonstration anywhere she wishes if a suitable venue is not provided next time.
“No one can stop me. Our MLAs, MPs and councillors are being intimidated in a conspiracy to break our party,” the TMC chief claimed before alleging how her MP nephew Abhishek Banerjee was refused admission by two private hospitals in the city after he was hurt in a mob attack.
Ms Banerjee's desperate attempt for political survival however comes amid a massive trend among her party's elected representatives to revolt against her and her nephew's leadership since the poll debacle and their intention to desert her.
This has become prominent once again after Ms Banerjee's stir when Kasba TMC MLA and former minister Javed Ahmed Khan broke his silence “about no democracy in the party” and his party's pressure on him to organise recent Eid namaz on Red Road, ignoring the BJP government's order.
He revealed that he refused to obey his party's diktat to avoid trouble and predicted that TMC has no future as no one would stay in it. Mr Khan also decided to attend chief minister Suvendu Adhikari's meeting on Wednesday like Barasat MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar did last week.
Echoing him, a long-time TMC councillor and Member Mayor-in-Council at Kolkata Municipal Corporation Tarak Singh also declared that he would resign from his posts soon.
