Continuing her tirade against the Centre over the Manipur crisis, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said the BJP’s ‘Beti Bachao’ scheme has now turned into ‘Beti Jalao’ (burn our daughters), and wondered why the BJP has never bothered to send central teams to Manipur.
Ethnic violence between the Meitei and Kuki communities since May 3 has claimed over 160 lives so far.
Addressing the party’s annual Martyrs’ Day rally in Kolkata, the CM said, “You (BJP) gave ‘Beti Bachao’ slogan, where is your slogan now? We express our solidarity with the people of Manipur. Today, Manipur is burning, the whole country is burning. In Bilkis Bano’s case, the accused were released on bail. In the wrestler’s case (Brij Bhushan Singh) was also granted bail…The women of the country will throw you out of the country’s politics in the coming elections.”
“We want to express our solidarity with Manipur. The BJP had sent so many central teams to Bengal (after the panchayat polls), why no central team was sent to the northeastern state?” she questioned, referring to the BJP delegation that visited the state in the aftermath of violence during the recently-concluded rural elections.
Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she asked, “I want to ask PM Modi did the incident in Manipur not hurt you even a little? You point fingers at West Bengal but don’t you have love for sisters and mothers? Till when daughters will be burnt, Dalits, minorities will be killed, people will be killed?”
“We will not leave Manipur, North Eastern sisters are our sisters,” she added.
Banerjee also expressed solidarity with the newly formed opposition alliance I.N.D.I.A, asserting that its goal is to remove the BJP from power. She warned that if the BJP comes to power for the third consecutive term, “Democracy will cease to exist.”
The TMC boss gave a clarion call to oust the BJP and refuted claims of personal ambitions by saying, “We have no other demand, neither we want any chair except ousting BJP from the Centre in 2024.”
“I am happy that these 26 opposition parties have come together. We will organise protests against the Centre under the banner of the opposition alliance – I.N.D.I.A. The alliance will fight and TMC will stand by it like a soldier,” she said.