In the name of ‘Mann ki Baat’, BJP befools people with ‘Jhoot ki Baat’: Mamata

Mamata Banerjee urged opposition parties to unite and defeat the BJP in next year's Lok Sabha elections

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Mann Ki Baat” radio programme by claiming that the BJP befools people with “Jhoot ki Baat” (lies).

Congratulating the people of the state on the second anniversary of the TMC’s emphatic victory in the 2021 assembly polls, the party supremo urged opposition parties to unite and defeat the BJP in next year’s Lok Sabha elections.

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The BJP, which observed the day as ‘Shradranjali Diwas’ to remember the activists who lost their lives in alleged post-poll violence in the state in 2021, said it would uproot the ‘nexus of corruption and violence’ allegedly patronised by the TMC regime in the state.

The saffron party also conducted Shahid Tarpan in the Hooghly river at Babughat in Kolkata to pay respect to slain party workers.

In a video message to the people, the chief minister said, “In the name of Mann ki Baat, the BJP befools people with ‘Jhoot ki Baat’. The BJP makes promises before every election and forgets those after the polls.” On Sunday, the 100th episode of the prime minister’s Mann ki Baat was broadcast.

“I urge all opposition parties to unite… When all opposition parties come together, BJP will lose the battle and India will win the war against divisive forces,” she said.

The time has come to defeat the BJP’s “jumla politics” across the country, Banerjee said in the video which was shared on social media platforms on ‘Ma Mati Manush Divas’ (Mother, land and people day).

The TMC came to power in West Bengal for the third time in a row in 2021. The result of the assembly election was announced on May 2 of that year. The party observes the day as ‘Ma Mati Manush Divas’. ‘Ma Mati Manush’ was a popular slogan of the party.

“After coming to power in 2011, in the last 12 years, we have taken Bengal on the path of development. We had hoped to receive some help from the central government on clearing the state’s dues, but that hope was dashed and some people are spreading canards to malign the state,” Banerjee said.

There is anarchy going on across the country, the TMC boss claimed, terming the Lok Sabha polls of 2024 as “elections for change”.

“I am grateful to Ma-Mati-Manush who showed to the world on this day in 2021, that there is no power bigger than that of people in a democracy. I sincerely congratulate all the people of Bengal for their relentless support to maintain democracy in our state,” Banerjee said in a tweet.

TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, who is currently leading a mass outreach campaign ahead of the panchayat polls, said the party had shown that it is capable of taking the saffron camp head-on.

“It will not take much time for the people to throw the BJP out of power. While Mamata didi has provided social schemes like Lakshmi Bhandar, Swasthya Sathi and Kanyashree, the BJP is looting people with the latest being in the form of linking PAN and Aadhaar,” he said.

The West Bengal BJP, which organised a demonstration to remember the “sacrifice” of party workers who died in “post-poll violence” in the state, asserted that the day is not far when the “corrupt TMC regime” will be ousted democratically.

“You can mislead people through lies and false promises, just like the TMC did in 2021. But it can be done only once or twice,” BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said.

Leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari said, “It has been two years when murderous thugs of the TMC took to streets of Bengal and unleashed what is, without doubt, the most horrific post-poll violence witnessed in independent India. That violence is still continuing. The law and order situation has completely broken down.”