This Independence Day speech by Narendra Modi to be his last from ramparts of Red Fort: Mamata Banerjee

KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech this year will be his last as the PM from the ramparts of the Red Fort in Delhi.

Banerjee, while speaking at a pre-Independence Day programme organised by her party the Trinamool Congress at Behala here, also proclaimed that opposition bloc INDIA will soon take the field, adding ”khela hobe (we will play)”. ‘Khela hobe’ was a slogan that the ruling TMC had coined during the 2021 assembly poll campaign. ”Modiji’s Independence Day speech tomorrow will be his last speech as prime minister from the ramparts of the Red Fort,” Banerjee said.

She also asserted that she believes that the opposition bloc INDIA, of which the TMC is a member, will emerge victorious in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. ”INDIA bloc will decimate the BJP across the country. In Bengal, the TMC will decisively defeat the saffron party,” she said. The TMC supremo indicated that she does not harbour prime ministerial ambitions, stating that ”Bengal does not want ‘Kursi’ (political position), it wants to dislodge the BJP ‘Sarkar”’.

Banerjee alleged that there are corruption charges against the BJP government at the Centre, citing the Rafale aircraft purchase and demonetisation of high-value notes among ”suspect” deals. ”In Bengal, there have been a few instances of corruption against which we have taken immediate steps. However, the central government has several corruption allegations against it, be it the Rafale jet deal or demonetisation of Rs 2,000 notes,” Banerjee said. The chief minister also accused the central government of holding back central allocation for food projects in West Bengal.

”You (the Centre) are not giving rice to us. You have stopped allocation though you are funding it from our own money. Don’t forget there is a 60:40 allocation ratio for central projects with a 40 per cent state share. If you hold back money to the projects which is our due, people will seek answer from you,” she said.

The TMC boss alleged that Modi has changed the ‘Garibi Hatao’ (remove poverty) slogan of Indira Gandhi to ‘Garib Hatao’ (remove the poor people). ”This shows the anti-people nature of the Narendra Modi government which does not give poor people the right to life, the right to livelihood. They only want to crush the dreams of the poor,” she said. Cautioning people to sustained attempt to change the history of the country, Banerjee claimed that the saffron party wants people to forget history “but we won’t allow that to happen.” The CM also asserted that the Modi government has been changing the names of one project after another, rechristening it after the PM.

She claimed that the BJP-ruled Gujarat is flaunted as a model by the saffron ecosystem, but if compared by statistics, West Bengal has got laurels on different parameters and is ahead of the western state.

On the occasion of ‘Kanyashree Divas’, The CM cited statistics of various parameters such as poverty eradication rate, unemployment rate and child mortality rate to buttress her point that West Bengal’s track record is better.

From the UN-awarded Kanyashree project, a conditional cash transfer scheme aiming at improving the status and well-being of the girl child, to UNESCO according ‘heritage’ status to West Bengal’s Durga Puja – West Bengal is on the path of achievements with new business ventures coming up in the state, Banerjee said.

The West Bengal government observes ‘Kanyashree Divas’ on August 14.

Source: Press Trust of India