BJP will not win in Bengal by insulting Bengalis: CM Mamata Banerjee

KOLKATA: A party that had unleashed language terrorism and tortured Bengalis would never win in Bengal, CM Mamata Banerjee said on Thursday, the concluding day of the special assembly session convened to protest against the attacks on Bengalis in BJP-governed states.


Banerjee unleashed a multi-pronged attack on BJP-led Centre, slamming it on the language issue as well as its foreign policy — that had led to the country “throwing itself at the US, Russia, China and Israel’s feet” — and the “vote-theft” issue, prompting BJP MLAs to get down to the House’s well and launch a high-decibel protest.



Several minutes of bedlam followed, with House marshals having to get in the act and separate BJP and Trinamool legislators. They also dragged out BJP chief whip Shankar Ghosh; he and four other BJP MLAs — Agnimitra Paul, Mihir Goswami, Bankim Ghosh and Ashok Dinda — were also suspended for causing sustained disruptions. Banerjee herself had to come down to the well to restrain some of her Trinamool colleagues, who protested against the BJP’s refusal to allow her to speak. The resolution against the continuing hara-ssment and abuse of Bengalis in BJP-governed states was passed by a voice vote.


“Vote chor, gaddi chhor! They torture Bengalis. Bengali is not a foreign language. Those who hate Bengal are anti-Bengali and anti-national. They mislead and deceive people,” Banerjee said, calling BJP “a national embarrassment” and “biggest thief”.


“A day will come when people of Bengal will not want to see even a single BJP MLA. All of them will lose. You cannot win by insulting Bengal, its people and its language. No one will vote for you,” she said.


Bengal gave its blood during the freedom struggle. This party (the BJP) was not even born then,” she added, accusing it “of doing dalali for the British then”. Banerjee called Thursday’s two-hour ruckus “a dark day in the assembly’s history”.


The trouble started when BJP MLAs entered the assembly minutes before the CM arrived. BJP chief whip Shankar Ghosh approached speaker Biman Banerjee when CM Banerjee rose to speak and demanded that the opposition should be allowed to speak. The CM herself requested the speaker to allow BJP MLA Paul to speak though the latter had missed her turn but — as the CM started to speak, BJP MLAs started throwing paper pieces and shouting “chakri chor (job thief)” — sparking the counter-protest from the Trinamool benches.