'If someone has committed any mistake, the person should...': Mamata Banerjee amid arrests of TMC leaders

New Delhi: With several senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders being lodged in jails in various cases, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday (November 9, 2022) said that those who have committed mistakes should be "given a chance to rectify them". Addressing a TMC workers' meeting in West Bengal's Nadia district, she also said that the entire party should not be blamed if one or two persons commit a mistake. Mamata also claimed that allegations of corruption against TMC leaders have been blown out of proportion.

"If one or two persons commit a mistake, the entire party should not be blamed. There is an attempt to tarnish the entire party - as if everyone is a thief," she said.

"If someone has committed any mistake, the person should be given a chance to rectify those mistakes," Banerjee said.

The leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are the biggest thieves, the TMC supremo added.

Banerjee also alleged that the saffron party was influencing media trials of her leaders to malign them.

Our Hon'ble Chairperson Smt @MamataOfficial received a heartwarming welcome at Krishnanagar ahead of the public meeting.

We are elated to receive the love and blessings of people!

Few glimpses pic.twitter.com/hNVzQEhZop — All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) November 9, 2022

Mamata's comments come in the backdrop of the recent arrest of Trinamool Congress MLA Manik Bhattacharya for his alleged involvement in 'irregularities' in recruiting primary school teachers.

Earlier in August this year, the CBI had arrested TMC Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal for allegedly being involved in cattle smuggling. A month before that, the ED had arrested former education minister Partha Chatterjee in the School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment scam. 

Those involved in infighting would be thrown out of TMC

Mamata Banerjee also cautioned party MLAs in the faction-ridden Nadia district saying that those who are involved in infighting would be thrown out of the party.

"I will request all MLAs in the region to stop fighting among themselves. If you don't stop infighting, you have no place in this party. If you have an ego, you better stay at home; you won't be needed. If you want to serve people, then go out and work for the people," she said.

She added that infighting sends out a wrong message and provides an advantage to the opposition forces.

"I will be setting up a coordination committee, in which the MP of the region, MLAs of the region, and the Zilla Parishad president will be there. We will work together for the betterment of the region. If the TMC stays united, no BJP, CPI(M), or Congress will be able to fight against us," she said.

Referring to the panchayat poll in the state due next year, the chief minister claimed that all these opposition parties come together whenever the elections approach.

"The CPI (M) and the BJP have a secret understanding. This is the truth that everyone should know," she said.

Banerjee wondered what the public representatives of the saffron camp have done for the district.

Out of the two Lok Sabha seats in Nadia district, the BJP snatched the Ranghat constituency from the TMC in 2019.

"I request the people of Ranaghat not to listen to the lies perpetuated by the BJP. Before every election, these BJP leaders begin lying only to secure your vote and then vanish for the rest of their tenure. The TMC stands by you through thick and thin," she said.

BJP 'using' CAA with eye on Gujarat Assembly elections

The West Bengal Chief Minister also alleged that the BJP was "using" the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) with an eye on the upcoming Gujarat assembly elections. She asserted that she will never allow the implementation of CAA or NRC in West Bengal.

"Whenever any election approaches, the BJP speaks of implementing CAA and NRC. With upcoming Gujarat assembly polls later this year, and Lok Sabha elections just a year-and-a-half away, it again started to flare up the CAA issue.

"Will the BJP decide who is a citizen and who is not? Matuas are very much citizens of this country," Banerjee said.

Matuas, who make up a large chunk of the state's Scheduled Caste population, had been migrating to West Bengal from present-day Bangladesh since the 1950s, ostensibly due to religious persecution.

"If Matuas are not citizens of this country, then how are they casting their votes in elections? If Matuas are illegal citizens, then the BJP MPs and MLAs who have been elected with Matua votes should resign as their election is also illegal," she said.

The promise of implementing the controversial CAA had been a major poll plank of the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha and the 2021 assembly polls.

"The BJP's plan is to use the CAA to grant citizenship to its supporters from other states and make them residents of West Bengal. They will then snatch away the rights of the permanent citizens residing here thus depriving you of various welfare schemes of the state government such as Lakhsmir Bhandar," she said.

Mamata accused the saffron camp of trying to "bring in its supporters from other states and make them voters of West Bengal while snatching the rights of the permanent residents of the eastern state".

Banerjee also accused the saffron camp of trying to fan separatism in West Bengal by raking up statehood demands and iterated she will never allow the division of the state.

"The BJP is fanning separatism in West Bengal by instigating Rajbanshis and Gorkhas in northern parts of the state. We will never allow the division of West Bengal," she said.

BJP won't return to power after 2024 Lok Sabha elections

Mamata Banerjee also claimed that the BJP won't return to power after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and said that the country's political situation was changing fast, and it is very different from that of 2019.

"In 2019, the country's political situation was different; the BJP was in power in Bihar, Jharkhand, and many other states. But now, its political presence has diminished across the country; it is no longer in control in many states.

"The BJP has already reached a saturation point in many states. The political situation of the country is changing very fast. That is why it is attacking opposition parties and arresting opposition leaders by maligning them," Banerjee said.

She wondered from where the saffron camp was getting crores of rupees to spend in assembly polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

"From where does the BJP get so much money to spend thousands of crores during elections? How many BJP ministers were arrested (in Madhya Pradesh)? What about the Vyapam scam? They are threatening our leaders so that they cannot work in the panchayat elections," she said.

(With agency inputs)