Mamata Banerjee Declares Mission To Oust BJP

Mamata Banerjee has vowed to unseat the BJP from power, declaring it her life's mission and announcing a nationwide anti-BJP campaign amid allegations of election rigging and post-poll violence in West Bengal.

Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee declared on Tuesday that unseating the BJP from power is no longer just a political objective, but a mission of her lifetime, one she intends to fight forward with unwavering determination until her very last breath.

Alleging that the BJP rigged counting in 177 of the 294 seats which went for polls to win the West Bengal elections, Banerjee asserted that she would not abandon TMC workers in "these difficult times".

She was referring to large-scale arrests of leaders on charges of corruption, intimidation and extortion, and the alleged torture of party workers after the TMC's debacle in the recent assembly polls.

"Jeeyenge toh BJP ko hathake jayenge (will dislodge the BJP if I continue to live)," Banerjee said, accusing the BJP-led Centre of "pulling strings" to split the TMC.

Banerjee Accuses BJP of Threats and Conspiracy

Alleging that her party MLAs and councillors were being threatened by the saffron camp, besides administrative hurdles which were being put up before her, the TMC chief said she would stop the "conspiracy" from taking effect.

Addressing TMC supporters at a dharna in central Kolkata -- Banerjee's first public programme since TMC's defeat in the state elections -- to protest alleged post-poll attacks on party workers and leaders following the BJP's victory in the state polls, Banerjee said anti-BJP parties would soon formulate a country-wide programme.

"Very soon, all anti-BJP parties will meet in Delhi. Wait for a few days and we will soon announce our country-wide course of action," the TMC chief said, referring to the scheduled INDIA bloc meeting next week.

Banerjee reached the dharna site at Esplanade's Y-channel after the TMC's appeal to hold the protest at the adjacent Rani Rashmoni Avenue was turned down by the Kolkata Police.

In a post on X, Banerjee called the sit-in protest a programme "against post-poll violence, eviction of hawkers without rehabilitation, irregularities/ fraud in the NEET examination, and the vindictive actions of the BJP government".

Protest Details and Allegations

"We were not permitted to hold our programme at the place we requested. At the alternative site, the police did not allow us to set up a stage or use microphones," Banerjee said, while addressing the crowd using a hand-held megaphone.

"I will move court if others are allowed to hold programmes at the venue where we were denied permission to protest, or if they permit microphones. Law cannot be used in a discriminatory manner targeting only the TMC," she added.

The protest was marked by intermittent chaos, with TMC workers shouting slogans, interrupting the former chief minister's speech.

"Those who have arrived here, ignoring police intimidation, should know that the men in uniform are being used by the BJP dispensation to do things they are not supposed to do. Threatening TMC workers is not part of their job profile," Banerjee alleged.

The TMC supremo was accompanied by the party's old guards like Firhad Hakim, Madan Mitra, Kalyan Banerjee, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Chandrima Bhattacharya and Dola Sen, amid the conspicuous absence of most of the fresh faces who won the assembly seats on TMC tickets.

Banerjee's Resolve and Accusations Against BJP

Banerjee, however, asserted that despite the police roadblocks to hold the dharna, to protest Saturday's attack on her nephew and TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, the alleged post-poll violence and hawker eviction, the protests will continue as scheduled.

"They cannot stop me, no matter how hard they try. Before coming here, I garlanded the statue of BR Ambedkar. The police had no clue that I would go there. I have pledged before the Constitution that I will keep holding protests till such time the BJP continues to threaten our democracy," she said.

Banerjee alleged that the recent assault on Abhishek at Sonarpur was carried out in a planned manner.

"The BJP had smuggled in its workers from before, fed them and even tutored them how to act and talk. Had a TMC worker not supplied Abhishek with a helmet, the injury from the stone hurled at him could have turned fatal," she alleged.

She further alleged that private hospitals where Abhishek was taken to were brought under "immense pressure" of the Suvendu Adhikari establishment not to allow admission to the injured leader.

"The hospital CEO, where Abhishek was later admitted, apologised to me and said he wasn't able to bear the pressure that was mounting on him," she alleged.

"(PM Narendra) Modiji has left Bengal in the hands of anti-socials and bulldozer-happy politicians, pushing the state into darkness," she said.

Controversies and Future Actions

Speaking on the controversy over signatures of TMC MLAs endorsing Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay as the Leader of Opposition, Banerjee maintained that the MLAs had signed the party's attendance register in accordance with the decision taken at the meeting concerned.

"The Assembly Speaker should have conducted forensic tests of the signatures if he had confusion about their authenticity. The BJP is playing a dirty game," she said.

Banerjee alleged that the police were threatening TMC MLAs not to leave their houses and pressuring them to quit the party, asking them to form a "new Trinamool".

"Who will form the new Trinamool? Those who are with the party, or those who have deserted it?" she said, adding, "those who were tortured most in the hands of BJP are now holding their hands".

Lashing out at the state government for forcefully demolishing houses and evicting unauthorised hawkers, Banerjee demanded compensation and rehabilitation for the affected.

"Forceful eviction of hawkers without rehabilitation is not the policy we followed during my tenure as CM. We took a humane approach," Banerjee said.

The ex-chief minister said Abhishek was targeted because he had visited two places where the administration had torn down houses.

"I will visit many more places without informing the authorities. Let's see what they can do," she said.

"Kill me if you can. But I will continue to speak till I have my voice. I am a free bird now, I can go anywhere without restrictions. We will fight and emerge victorious," Banerjee added.