Abhishek Banerjee Reiterates Charges Against BJP, Vows to Overthrow Its 'Oppressive' Rule

When Abhishek Banerjee arrived in Calcutta on Wednesday night, he picked up where he left off in New Delhi and launched a stinging attack against the BJP for the alleged mistreatment of the group he led to Krishi Bhavan on Tuesday night.

The Trinamul national general secretary reiterated his claims against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the police and paramilitary forces commanded by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and junior Union rural development minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti.

Do these 20 lakh employees have any experience working under the MGNREGS? If so, the Centre must hold a press conference to explain the legal basis for their decision to withhold for more than two years the wages of those who have already worked for months, according to the 35-year-old leader who took the helm of Trinamul in Mamata Banerjee's absence due to a health issue.

It is unacceptable how Delhi Police handled and abused MGNREGS families on Tuesday, especially old women. The 40-member team he led to Krishi Bhavan was harassed, and all was caught on camera, he said at the Calcutta airport. "They did not even show an iota of courtesy or humanity," he said. "They abused the female MPs like animals and pulled them along by their hair. The sole transgression they committed was to demand payment for the MGNREGS employees of Bengal.

Trinamul claimed that after being denied access to the meeting for three hours, the delegation was attacked and manhandled by Delhi Police and federal agents, and held at the New Police Lines at Kingsway Camp in GTB Nagar for more than 90 minutes starting at 9.15 p.m.

On Wednesday, Trinamul held dhikkar (condemnation) rallies across the state in opposition to the alleged mistreatment of the delegation in Delhi.

Tuesday's two-day Trinamul demonstration in Delhi was punctuated by intense drama at night when Abhishek claimed Jyoti had left through a back door to avoid seeing them, despite the fact that she had already met Nandigram MLA Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP.

Trinamul referred to Jyoti as a "liar" for her denial of Abhishek's charges in a statement that she made.

They claim that the administration of our darling Narendrabhai Modi is preventing Bengal from receiving funding. The data and figures I was supposed to present to them caused them to flee, she added.

Do they lie or do I? They wouldn't have been able to distinguish the milk from the water at that meeting, which is why they avoided my table, she said.

She was challenged by Abhishek to back up her assertions with video from Krishi Bhavan.

Abhishek said that a march will start at 3 p.m. on Thursday from Rabindra Sadan to Raj Bhavan in Calcutta.

"As part of our Raj Bhavan cholo initiative, a delegation of 40 to 50 people will ask the governor for an appointment. The 50 lakh letters (from disadvantaged beneficiaries) that we brought to Delhi and that the people at Krishi Bhavan threw out, I hope the governor would visit us and accept," continued Abhishek.

But on Wednesday, Governor C.V. Ananda Bose was in Kerala. It wasn't known if he would show up on Thursday.

Abhishek referred to Modi as a "jomidar (feudal lord)" and vowed to overthrow his purportedly oppressive administration on Wednesday as well. He referred to the BJP's leadership in Bengal as Modi's letheyl bahini (army of goons).

"A Prime Minister talks about New India but lacks the guts to address the media. Public officials are mistreated in Modi's New India by BJP-controlled groups and organizations. The most corrupt individuals are admitted into the BJP under Modi's New India, he claimed.

"Modi's New India is an India where hate-mongers, killers, and rapists are rewarded, garlanded, and felicitated in public programmes, while honest journalists, speaking truth to power with courage to ask the right questions, are wrongly framed under the UAPA...," he said, adding that he believed "this tyranny will end" when people have the opportunity to vote.

Abhishek Banerjee responded to the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) request to separately summon him, his parents Amit and Lata Banerjee, and his wife Rujira Narula, saying, "I am not challenging any investigating agency but the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister, who control these investigating agencies. I implore the national leader of the BJP, J.P. Nadda, and his Bengali goons to attempt and stifle the movement of the people to reclaim Bengal's legitimate compensation from the federal government.

"What occurred in Delhi was a trailer; Mamata Banerjee will screen the movie in two months. Attend to it. Under her direction, more than 100,000 Bengalis would march on Rajpath," he continued.