Mamata’s Martyrs Day rally in Kolkata. The annual Martyr’s Day rally in Kolkata has been a show of strength for several years now. In the past, Mamata has used the occasion to send out messages to the party rank and file.
In a blistering attack on the BJP, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday accused it of indulging in massive corruption in many states and claimed the central agencies were completely silent on the saffron party’s scams.
She also threatened to slap defamation cases worth thousands of crores if the probe into the Saradha and Narada cases by the CBI and other central agencies did not proceed in a genuine way.
“In Rajasthan, there is a scam spanning thousands of crores of rupees, but where is the CBI? Are they sleeping? In Karnataka, what is the magnitude of the scams indulged in by the Reddy brothers, who are BJP’s friends?”
“In Madhya Pradesh, there is the Vyapam scam, in which several people have already been killed. Where is the CBI? The Gujarat Petroleum scam runs into Rs 20,000 crore. Where are the government agencies, like CBI, Enforcement Directorate or the Income Tax authorities?” Banerjee said at a massive public rally organised by the Trinamool Congress in the heart of the city.
The Trinamool chief said the ruling BJP at the Centre was trying to silence her party as “it was the most vocal in its protests”.
“Do we have to take character certificate from you on whether we are good, or not? We despise your character certificate. We only accept people’s character certificates,” she said.
Banerjee said across the country, the CBI is being “let loose” against anybody talking about the ills of demonetisation or GST.
The Trinamool chief alleged that the BJP was threatening to use the CBI and frame people in the Saradha ponzi scam and Narada sting footage cases if they did not join its fold.
Without naming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she said that “Barda” (elder brother) will have to bow out of office after the 2019 parliamentary polls.
At the same time, she speculated that the parliamentary polls could be pre-poned to next year. “They could go for parliamentary polls next year. I don’t know. I was hearing something like it,” she said.
“We say, go ahead with Saradha and Narada, in 2019 Barda will have to go. The bardas will have to bow out from power in the country. It’s a challenge. Challenge on Martyr’s’ Day,” she said.
Turning to the Narada sting footage issue, she claimed “In the name of interview, though our people never asked (for money), they were given and then it was filmed in a planned way following the diktat of the BJP and the CPI-M.”
Banerjee also questioned why the Saradha probe was proceeding so slowly for the past four-five years. “The Saradha probe is continuing for four-five years. Why is the case still on? So slowly?”
She said with regard to the Narada probe the central agencies were announcing they would call all top Trinamool leaders one by one.
“They think if they summon them, they will be disgraced. If the case does not progress in a genuine way, we will slap defamation cases worth thousands of crore rupees against CBI and those behind Narada. We will fight it out. Because we firmly believe that no one in our party is guilty,” she added.
Banerjee also lashed out against cow vigilantes, saying in the name of cow protection they were burning killing and torturing people.
“They are pronouncing their diktat on what somebody should wear. Some people are told they can’t have meat. Pregnant women are being told they can’t have eggs. What will people eat then?” she asked.
Banerjee alleged that a “more than Emergency” situation prevailed in the country, with citizens not sure about protection of their rights.
“Common people do not know whether their rights are protected. Dalits and minorities don’t know whether they can live with dignity. Even Hindus don’t know whether they can survive with dignity because of some fake Hindus,” she said.
Banerjee said except in Bengal, nobody was safe even in Delhi.
Naming Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, who has faced constant criticism from a section of BJP leaders, she said: “Even Amartya Sen is not safe”.
Accusing the Centre of bringing the nation’s growth across sectors to a halt and crashing the country’s economy by implementing policies like demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax, claimed that millions of rupees were looted by the BJP in the name of these economic reforms.
“There is certainly a bigger game behind the Note-Bandi (demonetisation). There were scams of millions of rupees in the name of demonetisation. We want thorough investigation into it. The GST is another such scam,” she said.
“The BJP has looted lakhs and crores of rupees in the name of such decisions,” Banerjee alleged from the stage of her party’s Martyr’s Day rally here.
“Everyone starting from the jewellers, sweetmeat sellers, shopkeepers to the big industrialists are impacted by the GST. Business in several sectors has either ceased or has been severely downsized. The Indian economy has crashed,” she claimed.
To buttress her allegations, the Trinamool Congress supremo gave out comparative data of India’s GDP growth, bank credit rates and NPA and the job opportunities during the last two years to claim that the country was struggling to cope with the policies of the Centre in every sector.
“The GDP growth in the country has dipped. In 2015-16, the nation’s GDP was 8 per cent but in 2016-17 it came down to 7.1 per cent,” she said.
Slamming the skyrocketing of non-performing assets (NPA) in several banks and the dip in bank credit rates, Banerjee insisted that the growth of NPA is another fraud to help the BJP allies.
“The inflated non-performing assets are also a form of scam for benefiting the close allies of the BJP. It has swelled from 5.12 per cent during the fourth quarter of 2014-15 to 11.97 per cent in 2016-17. The amount of NPA has inflated to more than Rs 1.66 lakh crore,” she asserted.
“Meanwhile, the bank credit growth that used to be 10.3 per cent during 2015-16, has now gone down to 5.1 per cent which is less than half,” she continued.
Referring to the investment sector, the Chief Minister said the Investment Industrial Production (IIP) has declined from 6.5 per cent in January 2016 to 3.1 per cent in January 2017 and the indicator of investment has dipped from 6.11 per cent during 2015-16 to a minimal 0.57 per cent in the last economic year.
Claiming that the central government’s demonetisation move has adversely impacted the job market, Banerjee said thousands of people have lost their jobs while opportunities in at least eight sectors have drastically reduced as the companies were forced to downsize following the ban on old currency notes.
“The job opportunities in at least eight sectors have been drastically reduced. During 2011-13, the vacancies were 12.8 lakh. However, between 2014-16, it has become six lakh which is even less than half. There are no jobs in the country. The BJP has failed in its promise of creating job opportunities for the youths,” she added. (IANS)