SHILLONG, Feb 12: AICC general secretary, Jairam Ramesh said he does not consider TMC chief Mamata Banerjee to be uncompromisingly anti-BJP.
“TMC is never against the BJP. She (Banerjee) was part of the MDA. She only walked out of the NDA. If she is against the BJP, why did she not support the opposition candidate for the vice presidency,” he asked a section of the media on Saturday.
Ramesh recalled that the West Bengal CM had met Jagdeep Dhankhar and Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma at Raj Bhavan in Darjeeling three days after the NDA announced Dhankar’s candidature for the post of Vice-President.
“She then issued a statement to abstain in the vote to the election of the Vice-President,” he said.
According to him, both Mamata and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee are vulnerable.
“The TMC will blow hot and she will blow cold. In the morning, she will give the sign that she is against BJP and by evening her stand against the saffron party will change,” Ramesh said.
Stated that she (Mamata) makes anti-BJP noises, he said he witnessed on a day-to-day basis that there is a toxic understanding between TMC and BJP.
“The TMC chief was singularly responsible for the growth of BJP in West Bengal,” he stated.
Ramesh also criticised the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and said the organisation’s objective is to change the Constitution. “The RSS opposed the late BR Ambedkar. The founder of the Jan Sangh, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee opposed the Constitution. They were deeply uncomfortable with the Constitution and our political system. They are deeply uncomfortable since we are committed to secular values. They want a presidential form of government,” he said.
The AICC leader pointed out that if the BJP can remove Article 370, Article 317 and the Sixth Schedule can also be taken away.
“The Constitution was always under threat as they had no role in forming the same, whether it was the BJP or the RSS. They had opposed Mahatma Gandhi and former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as well,” he said.
The India he grew up in was more tolerant and more accommodating, Ramesh said.
“Maybe it had fewer Hondas, SUVs, and airports were smaller. It did not have a visible sign of development. But it was more tolerant and accommodative. It was a kind of gentler India,” he reminisced.
“We now have a brutal India where only the rich and the fittest will survive. Mark my words, this is an India where majoritarian sentiments are very strong. Small identities like Khasis, Garos, Meiteis, Bodos, and so on are under serious threat due to this dominant identity,” he cautioned.
“They are now pushing like a bulldozer and that is the biggest threat,” he said.
Asserting that India has been always defined by diversity, Ramesh said: “The DNA of India is diversity. But that today is under threat because you want uniformity. Everything should be uniform – one nation one tax, one nation one party, and one nation one leader. No doubt we are one nation. But we have many cultures and different people.”
He further said there is a need to use this diversity to strengthen the nation’s unity.
