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‘You are zero and will be zero’: Mamata targets BJP as Assembly discusses Governor Ananda Bose’s address
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also addressed the BJP’s allegations against her Government over illegal immigration and the electoral roll revision.
CM Mamata Banerjee said the central departments related to border management did not share information with the West Bengal Government. (File Photo)
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tore into the Opposition BJP on Thursday in her response to Governor C V Ananda Bose’s address to the Assembly session, which will be the last before the next state elections. She also addressed allegations against her Government over illegal immigration and the electoral roll revision.
“You are zero and will be zero. You can use all your agencies against us. Bengal’s people will not accept you (BJP). You people will lose many seats,” Banerjee said.
Banerjee also replied to Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari’s criticism that the governor’s customary address, prepared by the Government, failed to mention women’s safety and the law and order situation. Adhikari said the governor decided against reading the full speech because of these “omissions”.
However, the chief minister stated that the governor had said what needed to be said.
“The honourable governor, as far as I know—I don’t want to disclose what was discussed with me—he likely has a flight at 1.15. For that reason, he spoke for the time he had and wished to lay the rest with the permission of the chair,” Banerjee said.
The governor’s address praised the Government’s social welfare schemes.
Banerjee pointed to what she said she used to do in Parliament when she was the railway minister. “I would not speak in full. I would speak as much as was necessary with the honourable speaker’s permission and leave the rest. That system exists in the parliamentary system,” she said.
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Banerjee further attacked the Opposition. “When there is nothing to say, an idle mind is the devil’s workshop—that is what we always feel. To those who are looting and lying, I say: the word ‘infiltrator’ has entered your heads and nothing else.”
Referring to BJP MLA Shankar Ghosh’s claim that the number of voters had increased 70 per cent between 2009 and 2014, the chief minister said, “Will the new students and youths not be included? Will those completing 18 years of age not get voting rights? Tell me… I am answering because you mentioned these things in [the discussion about] the governor’s address. Secondly, you mentioned 70 per cent. Where did this calculation come from? I don’t think even a magician could prove this.”
Further targeting BJP MLAs, Banerjee said, “As a Bengali, shouldn’t you have protested when migrant workers (from the state) were being tortured in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar, and UP?”
‘You have been taught like a parrot’
Addressing the BJP’s criticism over illegal immigration, Banerjee said the central agencies and departments related to border management did not share information about illegal immigrants with her Government.
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“And you are talking about the border? When that meeting took place, you weren’t even present. You are just repeating what you heard from someone else. You have been taught like a parrot. Forget it. I have seen many home ministers… I am asking you, why is data not shared with us?
“Previously, when someone arrived from outside, the Customs Department, Aviation Department, and Rail Department would share details and data with our police, and we would take action. For the last 10 years, that has not happened,” she said.
Banerjee also said the agencies were still not sharing the information despite her raising the matter with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
“Secondly, to whom have we not given land? Should I give everything to the Government of India while you keep shouting? Are you going to occupy Bengal? When Coal India asked for land, we gave it. When SAIL asked for land, we gave it. We gave land to the SSB, the BSF, the CRPF, and the BSF again. We even gave land for the border,” the chief minister went on.
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