Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday appealed to the political parties and civil society to “isolate” the BJP in the country, to add more teeth to her movement against the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens.
Spreading her movement in the districts, she made it clear that those, who want to “displace” others, do not have any “place” in the country.
The Trinamul Congress supremo also wondered how many times the country got a Prime Minister from the BJP and whether the BJP would exist only in the country in others’ absence.
Predicting the BJP’s ouster from power from other states also after Jharkhand and Maharashtra, she pinned her hopes on these states to join West Bengal and Kerala to protest against the National Population Register (NPR) implementation.
“A heinous conspiracy is under way to drive out people of the country in the name of the NRC. I call upon all to be united and get prepared and isolate the BJP everywhere in the country. Those who want to displace others do not have any place in our country. We have stopped the NPR here. It will not happen here,” Banerjee told a rally after leading a protest march in Purulia.
She noted, “Kerala also declared not to implement the NPR. We hope other states follow suit. We will not allow the NPR if it is the first step of the NRC.”
Comparing the BJP’s rule with that of the Congress’ and others at the Centre, Banerjee asked, “Nothing can be more shameful than this. How many times have they been voted to power? How many times did they have a Prime Minister?”
She continued, “Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, I.K. Gujral, H.D. Deve Gowda, V.P. Singh, Manmohan Singh...there were so many. We voted them to be the Prime Minister. So many governments were run. But now people are asked to leave the country. Will the BJP exist only if others are not there? Everybody has seen how the people drove them out of power in Jharkhand and Maharshtra after getting a chance.”
The Trinamul chief observed, “People will throw them out from power whenever they get a chance in the elections from now on. No government can continue like this. Hindustan is ours. How can you divide the country into pieces? It can not happen.”
