MAWKYRWAT/ SHILLONG, Feb 24: TMC leader and Lok Sabha member from West Bengal’s Krishnanagar, Mahua Moitra on Friday came down heavily on the BJP and called it the biggest anti-minority force India has ever seen.
“Do not trust the BJP. Let me tell you, the BJP and the RSS are planning to remove Christians from the list of Scheduled Tribes. They don’t want Christians to be ST and they don’t want the benefits of ST to be given to Christians and other minorities. The BJP is the biggest anti-minority force India has ever seen,” she said while campaigning for Sounder Strong Cajee at Mawkyrwat.
Cajee is the TMC’s candidate for the Mawkyrwat constituency in the South West Khasi Hills district.
“BJP wants only one religion – Hinduism and one language – Hindi. They want all of us to be vegetarians, to wear only what they wear but India is a secular pluralistic country and TMC will fight for all minorities till our last drop of blood. Mamata Banerjee will fight for minorities till her last breath,” Moitra said.
She also lambasted Congress by saying that the grand old party has failed to keep the BJP out. “In 2006, Congress had 16 chief ministers but today, it has only two CMs. This is the state of Congress today,” she said.
“The TMC under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee is the only party that fights the BJP in India today. Mamata is not the daughter or sister of a political leader; she has come from the ground and had fought her whole life. All women who are with Mamata never know the meaning of fear; she makes us courageous and believe in ourselves. Every woman is taught by the TMC to be strong and now she will help throw away the BJP from Meghalaya,” Moitra said.
The TMC leader also hit out at the NPP and its coalition partners in the MDA government, saying that they have failed the people of the state in road infrastructure and healthcare. “The NPP has done nothing for 5 years. They should be ashamed, hide for 10 years and learn how to do development because they know nothing about development,” she said.
Moitra called upon the people of Mawkyrwat to vote for the TMC in February 27 elections and they will see changes in the state. “You have seen the NPP, Congress, BJP, UDP, and HSPDP and there is nothing new. Vote for the TMC and we will bring in development for Meghalaya,” she said.
At another rally in Shillong, Moitra hit out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for accusing the TMC of paving the way for the BJP’s victory in Meghalaya.
Addressing a rally for North Shillong’s TMC candidate Elgiva Gwyneth Rynjah, she said: “If Congress could have defeated the BJP, there would have been no need for us. Congress has failed spectacularly for us to provide an alternative. TMC is the only alternative.”
Questioning the repeated political failures of Congress, Moitra said: “Are we going to sit at home and wait for the BJP to take the country away while Congress continues to lose elections in state after state?”
She emphasised the significance of the women voters. “We have the power. Let all the male votes get divided into parts. If all the women vote for Elgiva, we will be victorious,” she said.
At another public meeting held in Pynthorumkhrah, TMC state-in-charge Manas Ranjan Bhunia also slammed Gandhi for misleading the public against TMC by making baseless remarks.
“We strongly condemn such lies. We fought against the BJP in Tripura and Goa. In Meghalaya, we are fighting against the BJP which supported the corrupt NPP. This is the purpose of TMC – to establish a people’s government and stand by the people in their times of need,” he said.
Underlining the issues that plagued Congress for decades, Bhunia said the CPI(M) wreaked havoc on the people of West Bengal for 34 years. “The people suffered under the Left Front. It was Mamata Banerjee who fought against the Left Front regime and Congress suspended her instead of supporting her,” he said.
