On an Eid gathering at Kolkata, Mamata Banerjee attacked Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party in full blast, accusing the Centre of taking away the democratic rights and minorities. Speaking to a big crowd in Red Road following the Eid prayers, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief claimed that the BJP government was trying to deprive people of voting rights in the West Bengal state before the upcoming assembly elections.
Banerjee complained of what she termed a contradiction in the policy of the Prime Minister who participates in diplomacy with the leaders of West Asia back home his government apparently deletes names of voters and calls some communities as infiltrators. She claimed that these were unfair and promised that her party would not allow any attempt of disenfranchisement to citizens.
Banerjee also adopted a high profile political attack by accusing the BJP of an attempt to split up the vote and destabilize the state politically. She cautioned that her party would not be shaken even when there was the so-called central pressure and called on her supporters to stand and be on the alert.
The utterances of the Chief Minister are timely, as the state is in the midst of political activity, which is about to be seen through elections. In conjunction with the speech, Banerjee, with TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee by her side, was visiting major Mosques in the city such as the Lal Masjid and Sada Masjid during the Eid festivities.
The themes in her speech were of togetherness, opposition and political mobilisation, and it further escalated the war of words between the TMC and the BJP that had been going on between the state and national fronts.