Didi claims Bengal will change govt at Centre

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday tore into the BJP saying that there will be a change in the Centre in 2019, and the beginning of the change will come from Bengal. Within 24 hours of lashing out at the BJP from a public meeting in Patna, Mamata again breathed fire at the Centre. The CM said that with Panchayat election scheduled for next year in the state and the Lok Sabha election in 2019, the TMC's attack on BJP will gain momentum by every passing day.

"We have seen three years of the BJP government at the Centre. They had promised 'Achhe Din' but where is 'Achhe Din'? All they have been trying is to get rid of is the Opposition. We will initiate the change of 2019 from Bengal and mark the beginning of a new India. Demonetisation and GST had caused a lot of suffering to the people, and that will bring the end of BJP at the Centre. Next year, we have panchayat election here and the student community will have to work hard for it," she said on Monday addressing a public rally organised by TMCP, the students' wing of Trinamool Congress.

Mamata also asked the youth brigade to be aware of any hate group on the social media and to stop their attempt of sparking any communal unrest in the state. "Creating a controversy over the immersion of Durga idol is one of those attempts. Durga idol can be immersed until four days. If we leave one day for Muharrum, what is the harm? What they don't know is that Durga idol immersion is prohibited on Ekadashi (the day after Dashami)," she said.

At a recent event, the CM had stated that the Durga idol can be immersed on Dashami (September 30, this year) till 6 pm and then resume the immersion from October 2. There would be no immersion on October 1 owing to Muharrum.

She also alleged that BJP was instigating people on the basis of religion. "They are trying to spark riots everywhere but when one such happened at Panchkula, they were unable to control that. As a result, 38 deaths took place. First look at Panchkula and UP and then look at Bengal. When there was trouble at Haryana, they got 40 battalions of Central force and when there was unrest at Darjeeling, we got four battalions," she said.

She added that the Left Front had got into a secret pact with the BJP. "The Left has lost its relevance in Bengal and to save their existence they have joined hands with the BJP. It is a team of Ram and Baam (Left). We will drive them away from Bengal," she said.

Next week, Mamata is likely to attend another anti-BJP meeting in Jharkhand. BJP state president Dilip Ghosh, however, appeared unfazed. "Whenever she had said such things about BJP, our vote share had risen. We have come to the second position in Bengal and if this trend continues she will herself not realise when she will be dethroned," Ghosh said.