West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday warned that the country was heading towards a presidential form of government.
“I want to tell you, especially to the educated class and to students, that we are heading towards a presidential form of government [with] one election, one leader, one political party and one emergency,” she said at a gathering to observe the foundation day of her party’s student wing, Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad.
Ms. Banerjee, who has been exercising restraint in her remarks against the Centre after the Lok Sabha polls, touched on a host of issues such as the changes to Article 370 in Kashmir and the decision of the Reserve Bank of India to transfer ₹1.76 lakh crore to the Central government.
Raising the issue of the change of power in Karnataka, the Trinamool Congress chairperson alleged “horse trading” and said that the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) next target was West Bengal.
“They want Bengal, because we are the ones who fight...who raise voice against them,” she said alleging that Central agencies were being used to target political parties.
“Today they (agencies) are calling my brother, tomorrow they will call me. I am ready to go to jail but will not bow down to BJP’s communal politics,” she said.
Ms. Banerjee urged the youth not to fall prey to the “opium of communal politics” and called upon them to support her for the next two years.
