Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday ‘debunked’ theories that her party was Bengal and Bengali-oriented and investing in the TMC would be futile in poll-bound Meghalaya.
Taking the TMC election campaign in Meghalaya forward, she fired salvos at the Bharatiya Janata Party for religious aggression although the party is a minor partner in the ruling coalition headed by the National People’s Party (NPP).
“There is a rumour that the TMC is a Bengali party. If Trinamool Congress is a Bengali party, why do people sing the national song written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and the national anthem written by Rabindranath Tagore?” Ms Banerjee asked at a party function on her first visit to Meghalaya’s capital Shillong.
Reminding locals of Tagore’s visits to Shillong, she also asked if Subhas Chandra Bose, who coined the ‘Jai Hind’ slogan and Mother Teresa, who made Kolkata her home belonged only to Bengal and not India.
“Why do you divide people on the basis of caste and religion? Let us walk, think and speak together. I am a Bengali and I am proud about it. But I work for all of India. You can’t say I cannot come here because I am a Bengali. I came here when PA Sangma had contested (on TMC’s ticket),” Ms Banerjee said.
“You voted for so many parties. Vote for the TMC this time. Our intention is not to control Meghalaya from Kolkata. You will rule it. We will only advise and guide you,” she said, indicating Meghalaya would be controlled from Delhi if the BJP is in a position to call the shots.
Ms Banerjee recounted how the TMC thwarted the BJP’s divisive designs in West Bengal and hoped the people of Meghalaya would do the same.
She criticised the Conrad K. Sangma government for the November 22 firing incident at Mukroh on the Assam-Meghalaya border that left six persons dead. She met the families of five Meghalaya victims and offered a financial assistance of ₹5 lakh each.
Her nephew and TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said Sangma, who heads the NPP, “deposited his spine and everything in Delhi”. He said this with reference to the state government’s reaction to the border firing incident.
“The families of the victims of Mukroh incident are shattered. No party stood by them. Not a single perpetrator was taken to task. Nobody was even called for interrogation,” he said.
The TMC duo made several promises including finding a solution to Meghalaya’s border dispute and offering monthly financial assistance of ₹1,000 each to a woman of every household.
After failing to make a mark in Goa, Meghalaya holds the key to the TMC’s “national party” dream. The TMC became the State’s opposition party overnight when 12 Congress MLAs led by former Chief Minister Mukul M. Sangma switched over in 2021. One of these MLAs quit and joined the BJP a few weeks ago.
