SILCHAR, April 17: Alleging that the BJP has made the entire country a “detention camp”, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said the CAA and NRC will be scrapped if the opposition INDIA bloc forms government at the Centre.
Addressing an election rally here in support of four TMC candidates in Assam, she alleged that there will be no democracy and elections if Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns to power for the third consecutive term.
“They (BJP) made the entire country a detention camp. This election is very dangerous. I have never seen such a dangerous election in my life,” Banerjee said.
She claimed that her Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma filed a number of police cases while she was agitating in West Bengal supporting Bengali people in the two states.
“What was my fault? Will you jail me, kill me or put me in a detention camp? When 17 lakh Bengali Assamese were excluded out of 19 lakh excluded from NRC, I was there to agitate for the people,” Banerjee said.
She asserted that her party TMC loves all religions and does not want people to be divided on religious lines.
“If the INDIA bloc wins, there will not be the National Register of Citizens (NRC), Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and Uniform Civil Code. We will repeal all discriminatory laws.
“If Modi wins again, there won’t be democracy and there won’t be any election. The entire country will be sold off,” Banerjee said at the rally.
She appealed to people to vote for all four Trinamool Congress candidates in Assam in the Lok Sabha polls and announced that her party would contest all 126 assembly seats in 2026.
“This is just a trailer and the final is yet to come. I will come again to play the final,” Banerjee added.
Besides Radhashyam Biswas in Silchar constituency, TMC has nominated Gauri Sankar Sarania, Abul Kalam Azad and Ghana Kanta Chutia for contesting the general elections from Kokrajhar, Barpeta and Lakhimpur respectively.
“The BJP is into dividing and torturing people across India – Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Assam and Delhi. Manipur is dying and there is no relief,” Banerjee claimed.
She also slammed the BJP for allegedly criticising those who have non-vegetarian dishes during the ‘Navratri’ festival and said it is an individual’s decision to eat what he or she likes.
“They only want riots in India. In fact, they can give only one guarantee – there will riots after looting votes. They have exploited every place in India and tortured women, Adivasis, farmers and all other marginalised people,” Banerjee said.
The TMC supremo also mentioned in her speech the ethnic violence in Manipur where more than 219 people were killed since May 2023.
“In Manipur, 200 churches were burnt, mosques were burnt. Women were paraded naked and they are still in search of justice,” Banerjee said.
She claimed that the TMC alone is fighting the BJP in West Bengal.
“The Congress and CPI(M) are supporting the BJP in Bengal. But we are with the INDIA bloc in the rest of the country… They (BJP) will try to scare us, lure us with money,” Banerjee said.
She also listed out several beneficiary schemes being implemented in West Bengal and said that similar programmes will be rolled out in Assam as well if TMC comes to power.
Ridiculing BJP’s target of winning 400 Lok Sabha seats, Banerjee said: “First you try 200 seats… I believe they will be defeated pathetically.” (PTI)
