West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of “cherry picking” officers at the airport to purposely delay her flight, adding that her flight was kept waiting on the runway for 30 minutes.
She had earlier claimed that Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and his wife, MLA Kalpana Soren, were “forced to” fly back to Ranchi on Sunday after they were denied permission to land their helicopter in West Bengal’s Jhargram due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s unscheduled ‘jhalmuri’ stop.
“We had to struggle a lot to get permission for this meeting. They have cherry-picked officers. They deliberately stopped me so that my programs would get delayed.”
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The chief minister further alleged that she struggled to get permission for the meeting, saying that a certain “big BJP leader” was given poll duties to cause problems for the people of the district, news agency ANI reported.
“They are not giving us permission to hold meetings. A person has come who thinks he is a ‘big leader’ of the BJP. I know the person very well. That person is given duty during the polls. They are troubling the people of this district. We will take revenge democratically,” she said.
She added that the “said leader” takes approval from the BJP even before giving permissions.
“The person who is in charge here takes approval from the BJP even before giving permissions. People will give a befitting reply to their arrogance democratically. I will urge the people in the administration to work without bias.”
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Mamata urges people to vote for AITC
As West Bengal braces for the upcoming assembly elections, the chief minister urged people to vote for AITC if they “wish to save the state.”
“I have with me, Devdeep Purohit. He is contesting from Khardaha. Don’t vote for any other party except AITC if you want to save Bengal. Make sure that the EVMs are thoroughly checked and well-protected. Be very careful on the day of counting as well. Don’t let polling happen in a machine that has once malfunctioned,” she said.
She also slammed the BJP for placing the military in the state, accusing the party of thinking that “the people of Bengal are terrorists.” Banerjee questioned the military involvement, saying, “Why will they interfere in elections? Has anyone ever heard that meetings with the military are held for elections?”
“They have brought armoured vehicles to Bengal for polls. They failed to stop the terrorists in Pahalgam. Are the people of Bengal terrorists? The military is to protect the country; why will they interfere in elections? Has anyone ever heard that meetings with the military are held for elections? I will ask this question to the Government of India.”
“Why are all the agencies being put to use? Do you want to fight the elections democratically, or do you want to bulldoze and kill people? Do you want bloodshed or peaceful elections? I want to see whether the power of all their agencies is more than the power of the people,” she added.
She criticised PM Modi over his claims of “24 crore jobs”, saying in reality people have lost jobs.
“I want to ask the BJP a few questions. Where are 24 crore jobs? It was promised by PM Modi that every year 2 crore jobs will be generated. Did 24 people get jobs? In reality, people have lost jobs. RBI’s report has proved that you have failed as a government. What about the promised ₹15 lakh? Apart from destroying the country, they have done nothing.”
Referring to PM Modi’s latest address to the nation, where he apologized to the nation for Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill not making the cut in Parliament — the chief minister accused him of “misuing Doordarshan for political campaigning.”
“The Women’s Reservation Bill was passed on 25th September, 2023. It received more than 450 votes. The notification of the same was not done since you don’t want to give 33% reservation for women. You have misused Doordarshan for political campaigning. You are spreading lies that we did not allow you to pass the bill.”
The attack also included a delimitation jibe at the prime minister, calling it a stunt to secure a majority in the Lok Sabha.
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“In the Lok Sabha, we have 37% women’s representation. In the Rajya Sabha, it is 46%. In panchayats and municipalities, there is 50% reservation for women. He wanted to do delimitation through the Women’s Reservation Bill. He wanted to increase the number of seats in the Lok Sabha to 850 since he knew that he couldn’t win with the present number of seats,” she said.
Assembly elections are due in West Bengal on April 23 and April 29. Results will be announced on May 4.
(With inputs from ANI)
