Ready to go to jail but won’t bow down to BJP: Mamata

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday accused the Centre of trying throttle her government using the “agencies” and said she will not bow down before the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) even if she has to go to jail.

Referring to the CBI summons to a number of her state ministers and party leaders, the Trinamool Congress supremo claimed that the BJP was trying to capture Bengal as her party protests and fights against its atrocities.

“They want to capture Bengal because we protest and fight against them. Our voice cannot be suppressed. We are not scared of death. We are not scared of agencies,” Banerjee said while addressing a student rally here.

“Today they have summoned my brother, tomorrow they will summon me. I am prepared for that. I am ready to go to jail, but I will not bow down my head before the communal politics of the BJP,” she said amid thunderous applause by her party workers at the meeting.

Banerjee also said that important institutions of the country are being headed by retired bureaucrats, who act as “yes men” of the government.

“All the institutions are headed by retired persons. They are just following orders of the government like ‘yes men’. They have no accountability towards people,” she alleged.

Meanwhile, refuting Mamata Banerjee’s claim that the Centre was using central agencies to harass her party leaders, state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh, on Wednesday, said her words showed that she was scared.

He wondered why Banerjee was repeatedly talking about jail and investigating agencies if she and her party leaders were innocent.

Referring to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) summons to several state ministers and Trinamool Congress leaders, the TMC supremo on Wednesday claimed the BJP government at the Centre was trying to capture Bengal by abusing the agencies as the TMC was fighting against its atrocities.

“Other political leaders are not afraid, and are not talking about jail. She keeps saying a conspiracy is being hatched to kill her or send her to jail. Her manner of speaking makes it apparent that she nurtures some fear,” Ghosh said.

People here suspected that the ‘cut-money’ was passed on to the top of the TMC leadership, Ghosh said.

“She must be feeling if the officers can reach P. Chidambram, they can easily reach Kalighat (Banerjee’s residence). The prevalent corruption in the state and tough steps being taken by the CBI have made her afraid,” he claimed.

If the agencies had facts and proofs, they had full right to summon anyone from across the country, the BJP leader said.

“Narendra Modi was questioned by officials for hours when he was Chief Minister. Amit Shah was questioned and even the case was shifted from Gujarat to Mumbai High Court. We were not worried. We fought it in the court. Innocent should have faith in the law,” Ghosh said.

On Banerjee’s remark that her party would not bow to any communal force, Ghosh said the BJP didn’t want anyone to bow. Opposition leaders in other states were not feeling scared like Banerjee, he added.

Referring to Banerjee’s comment that the Centre had silenced people’s voice on Kashmir by using brute force, Ghosh said no one was stopped from protesting. “Even at Parliament, they could not oppose removal of Article 370. They don’t have any valid point,” he said.

Separately, in a video of Mamata Banerjee that has emerged, the Chief Minister is seen feeding cake to an IPS officer who in turn touches her feet.

BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya has claimed the man in the video is Bengal’s west zone Police IG Rajeev Mishra to whom Mamata is seen feeding cake.

The video is a few days old when the Chief Minister was touring the coastal town of Digha. TMC MP Shishir Adhikari can also be spotted in the now viral video.

The official touched her feet while in police uniform.

Senior BJP leader and the party’s Bengal in-charge Vijayvargiya slammed the act saying, “What kind of system and democracy is this?”

Another BJP leader Arjun Singh, who had jumped ship from TMC, too tweeted the video that was re-tweeted by the Bengal unit of the BJP.

Indo-Asian News Service