Mamata Banerjee calls for ‘anti-BJP unity’ after Bengal poll defeat​

Mamata Banerjee called on all anti-BJP political parties, student organisations and civil groups to unite against the new BJP government in West Bengal after Suvendu Adhikari took oath as Chief Minister. She also invited Left parties to join the proposed united front

Kolkata: Mamata Banerjee on Saturday called upon all political forces, leftist and rightist, to unite with the Trinamool Congress against Bharatiya Janata Party after Suvendu Adhikari took oath as the ninth Chief Minister of West Bengal, as well as the first BJP Chief Minister in the state.​

On Saturday, while Adhikari’s oath ceremony was taking place at Brigade Parade Ground in central Kolkata, the former Chief Minister was celebrating the birth anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, as per the Bengali calendar, at her residence in Kalighat in south Kolkata.​

---

At the end of the programme, she called for unity among all anti-Bharatiya Janata Party forces in the state against the new government amid alleged post-poll violence.​

“The thunder of post-poll violence is there everywhere in the state. I call upon all anti-Bharatiya Janata Party forces, all students’ and youth organisations, and all non-government organisations to unite. We want to form a united front against the Bharatiya Janata Party,” Mamata Banerjee said.​

Speaking on the occasion, she also made it clear that even her once-arch political rival, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front in West Bengal, are welcome in the united front against the Bharatiya Janata Party.​

“Left, ultra-left, and any other national party are welcome. Let us all come together and remain united. Anyone is welcome to approach me. Henceforth, I will be at my office every day from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. My first enemy is the Bharatiya Janata Party,” the former Chief Minister said.​

Refusing to give a direct reaction to Mamata Banerjee’s call, Communist Party of India (Marxist) Politburo member and the party’s state secretary in West Bengal, Md Salim, quoted two lines by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, “Jibono Jokhon Shukaye Jai, Karuna Dharai Esho” (Come as the stream of mercy when life dries up).​

The significance of this observation by Tagore in this context is that Mamata Banerjee realised the importance of other anti-Bharatiya Janata Party forces only after the Trinamool Congress faced a landslide defeat in the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly elections, where she herself was defeated at Bhabanipur by the new Chief Minister, Suvendu Adhikari, by a margin of over 15,000 votes.​