Will fight together with Congress, Left at national level, says Mamata

india

Updated: Feb 14, 2019 07:43 IST

West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said democracy has become ‘Namocracy’ and the situation in the country is worse than what it was under the emergency and stressed that opposition parties will fight unitedly at the national level to defeat the NDA.

“Congress, CPM will fight against us in Bengal but will be together nationally,” she said at the ‘Tanashahi Hatao, Desh Bachao’ (Remove Dictatorship, Save Country) rally in Delh’s Jantar Mantar hosted by the Aam Admi party (AAP),

She insisted that Prime Minisrter Narendra Modi needed to go. “Modi hatao, desh bachao,” (Remove Modi, save country), Banerjee said.

She also reiterated that Modi’s days are over and dared him to arrest her.

“Today is the last day of Parliament, Modi’s expiry date is over. It is only a matter of days, jo darte hain woh marte hain; joh larte hain woh jeet tey hain (Those are scared, perish, those who fight, win), They can’t scare us for long. What will Modi do? Send me to jail, set agencies against us or murder us? We are not the ones to be afraid.”

Mamata had first used the expiry date analogy at the United India Rally in Kolkata on January 19.

The firebrand TMC founder who took on the Prime Minister earlier this month when a CBI team wanted to quiz the Kolkata Police commissioner on the Saradha chit fund scam, accused Modi of snooping on the government’s own officers.

“Modi government uses surveillance on everybody, against its own officers too... they send CBI to threaten my police. I haven’t seen a government stoop so low.”

She also accused the Modi government of using fear to rule the country and keep unfriendly political leaders in check and used a metaphor from one a Bollywood’s biggest ever blockbusters – Sholay – to drive home her point.

“Industrialists are told go to sleep or Gabbar Singh will come, politicians are told Gabbar Singh will come, farmers are told Gabbar Singh will come. How many Gabbars are there?

A host of opposition leaders including TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah, Nationalist Congress Party’s Sharad Pawar, CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal spoke at the rally.