Calcutta, Nov. 11: The CPM today said Mamata Banerjee was the "symbol of intolerance" and ridiculed the chief minister for describing the Bihar Assembly poll verdict as the "defeat of intolerance".
The CPM said the people of Bengal would "throw out" Mamata in the manner in which the BJP had been thrown out of Bihar.
Addressing a news conference at Alimuddin Street this afternoon, CPM politburo member Mohammad Salim said: "Now we find Mamata Banerjee lauding the Bihar victory as one against intolerance. Voters in Bihar have indeed rejected the BJP. But what moral right does she have to speak against intolerance? She is the symbol of intolerance in Bengal."
"The people of Bengal have begun to realise her intolerant acts, her government's and party's assaults on right-thinking people and intellectuals and her attacks on Opposition parties. Like in Bihar, the people of our state will throw her out," the Lok Sabha MP added.
Shortly after the Bihar results were declared on Sunday, Mamata had tweeted: "Congratulations Nitish Kumarji, Laluji and your full team. And all my Bihari brothers and sisters. Victory of tolerance, defeat of intolerance."
Salim cited as examples of the Bengal government's and Trinamul's intolerance the arrests of Jadavpur University professor Ambikesh Mahapatra for circulating a cartoon lampooning the chief minister and West Midnapore farmer Shiladitya Chowdhury for asking Mamata at a rally about rising fertiliser prices, the attack on a Birbhum judge over Kali puja subscription and the "trumped up" sexual harassment allegation against retired Supreme Court judge Asok Kumar Ganguly.
Salim said the BJP's decimation in Bihar would prevent "Modi bhai" from setting his sights on Bengal.
A section of CPM leaders said Mamata's support to the Nitish Kumar-Lalu Prasad combine in the run-up to the Bihar elections and the JDU's reciprocal gesture towards her after winning the polls had become a cause for concern for the Left.
After the Bihar victory, JDU spokesperson K.C. Tyagi had promised support to Mamata in next year's Assembly elections in Bengal.
The Left's frosty ties with the Janata parivar and the latter's decision to support Mamata has worried the CPM as Bengal has a sizeable population of Bihari voters. However, it's also a fact that the JDU has little presence in Bengal.
Trinamul secretary-general Partha Chatterjee today rebuked the CPM for criticising Mamata, saying a party that had lost its moorings organisationally and electorally was "talking nonsense".
"Is speaking up against intolerance bad? Had our leader been intolerant, people would not have supported our party overwhelmingly in successive elections," he said.
Alliance 'no' and 'yes'
Urban development minister Firhad Hakim today said Trinamul would not need any alliance in the Assembly elections next year but a tie-up was necessary for the next Lok Sabha polls.
"There will be no need for an alliance in the 2016 Assembly polls as Trinamul is strong enough to take on the Opposition on its own. However, in the next Lok Sabha polls, an alliance will be required to overthrow the BJP. Our leader Mamata Banerjee has started discussions with Nitish Kumar," Hakim said at Nabanna.
