West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is staging a two-day sit-in to protest alleged discrimination by the Centre against the state, came up with a unique protest, and termed it the “magic of BJP washing machine”.
Standing on the stage, with a cohort of TMC leaders and workers along with an oversized symbolic washing machine, the CM demonstrated putting a “black cloth” in it, which turned “white” after being washed in the “BJP washing machine”.
Tweeting the video, the All India Trinamool Congress
Banerjee, whose dharna began on Wednesday noon, sat overnight in front of Dalit icon Dr B R Ambedkar’s statue on Red Road in Kolkata, protesting against the Centre’s “stoppage” of funds to the state for MGNREGA and other schemes of the housing and public works departments. It is likely to end around 7 PM today.
Interestingly, in a change of stance, the West Bengal CM, who has been openly critical of the BJP and the Congress, urged all political parties in the country to unitedly fight the BJP in next year’s Lok Sabha election. Stating that the 2024 Parliamentary polls will be a fight between the citizens of the country and the BJP, Banerjee Wednesday asserted that people across religions must unite to defeat the saffron party and save the poor of the country.
She described the BJP as ‘Dushasana’ and ‘Duryodhana’ – the two antagonist mythological characters from ‘Mahabharat’. “I urge every political party in India to unite to oust this ‘Dushasana’ BJP government. ‘This Duryodhana’ BJP should be removed from power to save the country’s common man as well as Indian democracy,” Banerjee said.
On Wednesday, the CM also extended her support to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his disqualification as a Lok Sabha member following his conviction, and demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi must also be disqualified for “for hurting the sentiments of women” with his “Didi O Didi” remark during the 2021 West Bengal Assembly poll campaign. She said that the party will move the court in this regard.
“Law should be equal to all. If Rahul Gandhi is disqualified as a member of Parliament for hurting the sentiments of the OBC community, then why won’t Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari be disqualified for similarly hurting the sentiments of women and the ST community?” he said.
“Within a month, we will move the court in this regard. We will highlight the Surat court order with regard to Rahul Gandhi and file a petition to press our demand for disqualification of PM Modi and Suvendu Adhikari,” said the TMC leader.