Mamata Banerjee on Monday declared she was fighting a winning battle, despite being alone, against the might of the BJP election juggernaut comprising the full force of the Centre and 19 NDA-led states and mocked Narendra Modi’s alleged chief ministerial ambitions.
In addresses at rally after rally, the Trinamool Congress supremo framed the upcoming polls as a lopsided duel where the collective power of the Union government and its state-level allies had been weaponised to topple her, only to be neutralised by the sheer strength of the people's love for her.
“A total of 19 states and the Centre have come together against me... I am enough. I will continue my fight for the common people. I don't think I am alone, as I have the blessings of the people,” the chief minister asserted, dismissing the BJP’s electoral infrastructure as an impotent threat to her political survival in Bengal.
Mamata reserved her most acerbic performance for the Prime Minister, who had declared on Sunday that he was the BJP candidate in all 294 Assembly seats here. Mamata — knowing this is a statement she has made in every election since 2016 — seized on the statement to paint Modi as a man suffering from an identity crisis, or worse, colonial-style overreach.
“If Modiji says he is the candidate in 294 seats, then he should resign as Prime Minister, and say he wants to be Bengal chief minister. Let him then seek votes for all the constituencies,” she said, her tone dripping with disdain.
“Decide once and for all: do you want to govern the country or do you want to play candidate in every corner of Bengal? Do you want to be the nation's Prime Minister or the chief minister of Bengal?" she added. "You are an outsider here.... Bengal is not a stage for outsiders to parade around, project power, and pretend to represent every constituency while their own governance lies in ruins."
She went on: "Those who cannot even manage Delhi have no moral right, no business, and no authority to try and control Bengal from afar. Anyone who casts a malicious eye on Bengal will be answered by its people, decisively, unitedly, and democratically."
The rhetoric hit a fever pitch when Mamata addressed the Election Commission's alleged attempts to intimidate her through the overhaul of the administrative machinery.
"Throw me in prison, I will get even more votes. Have me shot dead," she challenged, suggesting that the BJP’s campaign had reached a point of desperation where removing her physically was the only way to break her perceived invincibility — and even that would not result in a Trinamool defeat.
She claimed this was why the BJP had effectively launched a "dirty scam" through the controversial commission's contentious special intensive revision of electoral rolls. She alleged that the exercise, which has seen the deletion of 91 lakh electors, was an orchestrated attempt to manufacture a demographic advantage for the BJP.
Mamata’s counter-narrative, which she is now taking to every corner of every district, posits that the BJP is an existential threat to the state’s social fabric, not merely a political rival.
About Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s Sunday vow that bulldozers would roll in Bengal, she was categorical: “The CM of UP has said that bulldozer action will take place here as well."
"What do you mean? I don’t believe in bulldozer action. I believe in humanity. We respect all religions and celebrate every festival. Don’t teach us religion," she added.
As the polling dates of April 23 and 29 loom, the battle for the 294-member Assembly is rapidly becoming a referendum on Mamata’s ability to withstand what she calls an "unholy alliance" of central agencies and external political forces.
"They have transferred everyone — IAS, IPS officers -- to other states so that nobody can catch them," she alleged.
"Money, drugs, arms, and even (illegitimate) voters are being smuggled into Bengal from other states," Mamata added. "They are threatening to capture Bengal. We are ensuring Bengal stays free."
