TMC yet to get Congress invite for Bharat Jodo yatra: Abhishek Banerjee

On Congress leader Jairam Ramesh’s claim that Congress would be the leader of Opposition parties, the Diamond Harbour MP said, “I would not want to get into this topic as it has become rhetoric. I would like to leave it to the judgement and wisdom of the people to decide which party is important, which party has got the capability and which party has the support of which state.”

He added, “The electoral outcome will reflect who is capable of what. We are trying our best, and even with our limited resources and might, we have gone aggressive over the past year. We have started TMC state units in Goa, Meghalaya, Tripura, Assam. We are putting all our might into fighting in two states simultaneously as Meghalaya, Tripura and Nagaland go to polls at the same time. We are ready to take on the NPP-BJP government in Meghalaya and single-handedly fight the BJP in Tripura. We will continue to fight.”

Without naming Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, he claimed, “We have seen how after the 2021 Bengal elections, BJP’s vendetta politics began. Within two weeks of the election results, four state ministers were arrested on false charges, just to harass them. A BJP leader who is involved in the same case was left alone. His crimes were whitewashed, since he joined the ‘washing machine’ of BJP.”

The Congress and the BJP did not immediately react to the TMC leader’s remarks.

Abhishek also criticised the Centre for “stopping disbursement of money to Bengal” in several of its schemes. He said, “BJP leaders cannot fight us politically, and hence they are halting our share of funds and harassing the common people of Bengal.”

On the war of words between Visva Bharati University (VBU) and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen over leased land in Santiniketan, Abhishek said, “The statement made by the VBU Vice-Chancellor is extremely unfortunate. The main reason behind the move was because Amartya Sen praised Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. BJP leaders cannot accept this, which is why they are targeting him. Had he praised any BJP leader, his 1.5-acre plot would have turned into 150 acres.”

He added, “It is sad and shameful to see a Nobel laureate like Amartya Sen getting attacked unnecessarily. It is painful for each and every one of us. Some people living in Bengal, who are not actually Bengali, like [senior BJP leader] Dilip Ghosh, they are the shame of Bengal. They may have a tag of Bengali, but they keep chanting words of praise for Gujarat and Delhi. Be it the Great Indian Revolt of 1857 or our freedom struggle, Bengal has never bowed down to anyone. Not now, not in future as well. If someone feels that they can threaten us by using their power and attacking CM Mamata Banerjee, or Amartya Sen, or the people of Bengal by withholding our funds, let them do whatever they want to do. The people of Bengal have already given a befitting reply to them and will continue to do so in future.”

Asked about the issues faced by people in availing of the Swasthya Sathi card scheme of the state government, Abhishek said, “We have received complaints that one or two hospitals are turning patients away. I have requested the administrative officials concerned to set up a meeting with hospital managements and resolve bottlenecks, if any. If hospitals continue to turn away patients, we will take steps to stop these malpractices and if needed, we will cancel the licence of hospitals. We hope to solve these issues within 10 days.”