Breaking the silence over her first election almost 25 years ago, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she did not want to contest against Somnath Chatterjee from Jadavpur, but was asked to do so.
The West Bengal chief minister, who was addressing the student activists of her party on Tuesday, recalled how she was called to the house of Congress leader late Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi and asked to fight against Chatterjee from Jadavpur constituency. “I told him I was not interested. But when he forced me, I told him that I would fight if I get a chance to launch a massive fight without any intervention," Banerjee said. She added that she ultimately agreed to contest the election after she was granted permission to launch a massive fight against the CPM without bothering about the repercussions.
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Mamata Banerjee asked the student leaders to not lobby for money or positions. "I never lobbied with anyone. I never visited any leader's house. But seeing me addressing the crowds on the street when I was a college student, former chief minister Siddhartha Shankar Ray halted his car and heard me. Priya da (Dasmunshi) and Subrata da (Mukherjee) called me at their houses and encouraged me to keep fighting," she recalled.
Further, she gave a call to the student leaders to agitate against the BJP government at the Centre.
The West Bengal chief minister also launched another scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi without naming him. She accused him of collecting foreign funds to win polls. "When we collect contributions from common people, they use the CBI against us. But he brings money from abroad and wins each vote by paying Rs 10,000," Banerjee said at the venue where BJP president Amit Shah had held a rally a few weeks back.
Calling herself a tiger, she vowed to resist the BJP at any cost. "After Assam, they are out to try NRC (National Register of Citizens) in Bengal. I want to see how they do it. They don't know a few tigers are here in Bengal," she said.
She also accused PM Modi of “buying” the national media. "I am afraid that no national television talks against their government. They have purchased all of them. They are rewriting the history of India."
Banerjee said there were many governments since the Independence and not all were her favourite. "Yes I did not like all of them. But I have never seen such a worst government in my life," she said referring to the current dispensation at the Centre.
Reacting to the notice sent to top police officers of Bengal regarding Saradha scam, Banerjee said, "My party had no idea about the Saradha scam. It began during the left front. But they are harassing me and my party. I would see an end to it”.