Mamata slams Modi ahead of address to nation, calls his speeches ‘bunch of lies’

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sharply criticised Narendra Modi ahead of his national address, calling his speeches misleading and ineffective for the poor, while attacking the BJP over governance, communal politics, and the failed women’s reservation bill

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday stepped up her attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of his address to the nation, saying his speeches offered no relief to the poor and were “nothing but a pack of lies”.

Speaking at a rally in Bhangar in South 24 Parganas district, Banerjee said, “I hear the prime minister will again address the nation with yet another web of falsehoods. People will not get rations by listening to his speech. His speeches are nothing but a pack of lies.” Modi is scheduled to speak to the nation at 8.30 pm, a day after the BJP-led government failed to secure passage of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha.

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The bill sought to implement 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state assemblies before the 2029 Lok Sabha polls through a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
The legislation required a two-thirds majority but failed to cross the mark, with 298 MPs voting in favour and 230 against. It needed 352 votes to be passed.

Banerjee also launched a broader political attack on the BJP, alleging that people who had once fomented communal tensions were now in charge of the country.
“Under the BJP regime, those who once incited riots have now risen to become the leaders of the country,” she said.

Invoking Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Mahatma Gandhi, the Trinamool Congress supremo said India’s true leaders had stood for unity and harmony. “The real leaders of this nation have always been towering figures like Bose and Mahatma Gandhi, who united the country through ideals of freedom, secularism and harmony, not those who thrive on division, hatred and violence,” she said.