Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday warned that the Hindutva brigade was cobbling together a post-poll survival manual that comprises plans for the infamous Operation Lotus and a third Partition of Bengal.
In rallies across the Bankura and East and West Burdwan districts, Mamata, also the Trinamool Congress chief, alleged that the BJP’s Operation Lotus — the allegedly Amit Shah-mastered strategy to fell democratically elected non-NDA governments by inducing defections through fear or favour — was already in motion. She said BJP operatives were aggressively soliciting support from her ministers and candidates. In Bengal’s 294-seat Assembly, the magic majority figure is 148.
“The BJP is threatening TMC candidates, including ministers, seeking their support if it falls short of the majority after the Assembly elections,” she declared to a packed ground at Chhatna in Bankura, her voice cutting through the dry, hot April afternoon. Sle claimed the BJP was already thinking about horse-trading rather than the democratic mandate.
Mamata then unveiled what she termed a “clandestine blueprint” for Bengal’s dismemberment. “The BJP plans to introduce a delimitation bill to divide Bengal into three parts. It may merge parts of Bengal with Bihar or Odisha, and torture the Bengalis who remain there,” she claimed.
A senior Trinamool MP weighed in: “The saffron ecosystem has been vociferous in its calls for a third Partition of Bengal (after 1905 and 1947), to bring the people who keep rejecting the Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan ideology to their knees.”
“Any such call before people whose ancestors suffered the horrors of Partition is a bad idea. But if the saffron camp understood such basics about the Bengal ethos, they would have come to power here a while ago,” he added.
Mamata’s focus shifted to a viral video purportedly involving AJUP leader Humayun Kabir, who was allegedly heard discussing a ₹1,000-crore deal with the BJP to facilitate Muslim vote-splitting. Since then, Prime Minister Narendra Modi implied that Kabir was being framed, Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM dropped its AJUP alliance like a hot potato and several seniors in Kabir’s new party resigned.
“They have struck a ₹1,000-crore deal to unseat the TMC. How can you defend such a person? The concerned person himself says the video is real. Why is he being shielded? Both Hindus and Muslims are being misled by this dirty game,” she said, challenging the Modi-Shah duopoly’s dismissal of the clip as an AI fabrication.
Mamata’s indictment extended to the Election Commission and its chief, Gyanesh Kumar, as she characterised the Bengal SIR as “the country’s biggest scam” in recent memory, excluding 90 lakh voters.
She asked voters to be alert: “Be alert about voting machines. The BJP has planned slow-voting and slow-counting. They plan to offer you spiked tea and sweets, which will cause you to fall asleep and allow them to loot your votes. Foil their plans.”
The BJP bribes voters before polls and forgets promises after polling is over, Mamata alleged. “The Prime Minister and the Union home minister should uphold the dignity of their chairs and speak the truth instead of reading from teleprompters,” she added.