Bengal will never accept BJP politics: TMC's Sagarika Ghose responds to Modi's speech

Trinamool Congress MP Sagarika Ghose on Saturday (November 15) claimed that West Bengal would never accept BJP's politics, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his party would win the next assembly polls in the state.

She said Modi, in his speech, spoke about conquering Bengal, about the conquest of Bengal, “as if Bengal is a piece of land to add to his CV”.

Also Read: Bihar elections: Modi predicts Congress split; signals aggressive Bengal push

Talking to PTI Videos, Sagarika said, "Dear Mr Narendra Modi, here are five points for you.”

1. "First of all, Bengal will never accept the politics of saam, daam, dand, bhed (negotiation, incentive, threat, or divide, literally implying by hook or by crook), which you play to grab power at any cost. You will do anything to grab power, you will pay money, you will use muscle, you will use intimidation, you will divide and rule. People of Bengal will not accept this form of politics.

2. “Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of Bengal, is not a ‘hawaii jahaz’ (airplane) neta. She is a leader who is among the people 24/7. People turn to her in times of need. She is there during natural disasters. No leader in India has done as much and has worked as tirelessly for women in terms of welfare and political representation. Our Kanyashree programme is a lifelong commitment which we honour, not just a pre-election bribe to women just to win votes.”

Also Read: BJP eyes SIR-driven Bengal sweep after Bihar election victory

3. “People of Bengal will never forgive the BJP-led Centre for denying funds for Bengal, denying just dues to Bengal, flouting the federalism of our Constitution. The central government has denied Bengal its legitimate dues - NREGA dues, Awas Yojana dues. Denying our legitimate dues simply because we don’t dance to your tunes. You will not be forgiven for this.”

4. “People of Bengal will not tolerate the way you are branding migrants from Bengal as infiltrators, as ‘ghuspetia’. They are working in other places in India simply to make a living. They are being called infiltrators just because they are Bangla speakers. They are citizens of India who happen to be poor, who happen to be helpless, who are journeying to different places as wage labourers.”

Also Read: NDA set to sweep Bihar; Giriraj Singh says 'next target is Bengal'

5. “The people of Bengal will never forget or forgive your party for the manner in which you taunt, mock, insult, and humiliate our language, our icons, our culture, for trying to defame Bengal, defame Kolkata, for taunting our leaders and our icons who mean so much to our cultural sensitivities and our identity. There are BJP people who have called the Bangla language Bangladeshi language. Our language is extremely important to us. You repeatedly insult the Bengal identity, Bengal Asmita. No Bengal voter will tolerate this.”

“We are the children of Vivekananda, of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, of Rabindranath Tagore. We will fight you, and we will win.”

(With agency inputs)