Under relentless attack from the Opposition, particularly the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Abhishek Banerjee on Sunday broke his silence and said that no BJP leader, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had the guts to take his name, and kept referring to him as “ bhaipho ” (nephew)
Over the past few months, BJP leaders have made incessant veiled attacks on Mr. Banerjee, Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, referring to him as “ bhaipo ”.
“All leaders of BJP big or small have one thing to say — bhatija or bhaipho . They cannot take my name and say Abhishek Bandyopadhyay. Neither the Prime Minister nor any BJP leader has the guts to take my name,” Mr. Banerjee said, addressing a public gathering in Diamond Harbour in South 24 Parganas district. He is one of the most important leaders in the TMC after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The 33-year-old MP said that he had initiated legal action against leaders like Mukul Roy, who had made direct allegations against him. He also went on to make serious allegations against BJP State president Dilip Ghosh. “I am taking the name and saying that Kailash Vijayvariya is an outsider. West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh is a goon and a mafia. Amit Shah is an outsider and Sunil Deodhar is an outsider…,” Mr. Banerjee said, daring the BJP leadership to take legal action against him.
During the address, his first before the run-up to the 2021 Assembly polls, Mr. Banerjee also rebutted some of the allegations made by TMC leader Suvendu Adhikari. “Nobody in the party has been dropped from a parachute and taken the lift to come up,” Mr. Banerjee said.
“I have not been dropped from a parachute nor have taken a lift to climb up. I have made the hard way, climbing the stairs,” Mr. Adhikari had said a few weeks ago.
Interestingly, Mr. Adhikari, who also made his first public appearance after quitting from the State Cabinet at Mahisadal in Purba Medinipur district, took no swipe — either direct or veiled — at the TMC. His focus was on the freedom struggle in undivided Medinipur, where the people of region established self-rule in British India. The TMC strongman also did not drop any hints on his next political course, but that he would continue to serve the people of the State. Even though he has quit the Cabinet, Mr. Adhikari has neither officially left Trinamool nor resigned as a member of the Legislative Assembly. The developments of Sunday indicate that Mr. Adhikari’s parting ways with the Trinamool Congress is only a matter of time.
Mr. Banerjee, who is also considered by many as the heir apparent to Mamata Banerjee, said that the party was like his “ mother” and no TMC supporter would betray the “mother”. He also referred to the Chief Minister as his political mentor who had taught him the ropes of politics. “Nobody should underestimate the workers of Trinamool Congress,” he said, adding that the people of West Bengal would elect Mamata Banerjee to power again in 2021.
