Kolkata: Apparently targeting the BJP and the CPI-M, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said many leaders would have been behind bars for their activities had her party practised the “politics of vengeance” after taking over the reins of the state.
Banerjee reminded people that before coming to power in 2011 by defeating the CPI-M-led Left Front that had ruled for 34 years, her party had coined the slogan “badla noi, bodol chai” (we want to change, not revenge).
Releasing the festival number of her party’s Bengali mouthpiece Jago Bangla, she took on the opposition, saying “you can abuse us, we are not bothered. Those who are indulging in such things are most welcome to practise the art if that helps them to sleep in peace.
“We don’t believe in vengeance. We had said we want to change, not revenge. So we did not arrest any of those who were there for 34 years,” she said, attacking the Communist Party of India-Marxist.
Turning to the centre’s ruling coalition major Bharatiya Janata Party, Banerjee said “Those sitting in Delhi, have various agencies over their head. These agencies turn a blind eye to many things”.
“We are all bad. Only they are good,” she said, mocking the BJP.
‘Some people are only eager to defame Bengal. I get angry when Bengal is given a bad name, and people of Bengal are insulted.,” she said.
In an apparent reference to the images of seizure of crores of rupees by central agencies during the ongoing probe into graft cases, she said “If even one such photo is published, that triggers a storm of protest. Have we reached this stage of cultural decadence? But our culture is to go ahead with our heads held high”.
The West Bengal Chief Minister blamed “outsiders” for carrying on such campaign on social media. “Some people, hired fro outside, have paid money to some digital media. There is nobody who is not reviled on social media. Some people keep themselves engaged all day in such activities. Instead, the state would have gained if Bengal’s development, the good work done were highlighted”.
