Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee were two sides of the same coin. “The two are on the same page... When Prime Minister Modi faces trouble in Parliament then Mamata’s Trinamul Congress comes to his rescue and in return Mr Modi turns a blind eye to TMC’s anti-people policies,” she said while addressing an election rally at Malda’s Sujapur. To substantiate her charge, she said that the Modi government had not taken any action against those who have looted through Saradha chit fund thousands of crores which belonged to the poor.
Mrs Gandhi claimed that Bengal had never before witnessed such a situation when it had to bear the brunt of two authoritarian governments. “On one hand the people in the state are suffering the tanashahi of the Modi government and on the other that of the Mamata government,” she said. Later she addressed another ally at Birbhum’s Muraroi.
Continuing her tirade against the Mamata government, Mrs Gandhi said it did not keep the promises it had made five years ago. “Five years ago, she had promised that she would protect the rights and interests of the poor and the downtrodden, the women and the minorities. We had believed her promises and the Congress extended support to TMC in the 2011,” she said, in an effort to drive home the point that the Congress had made a substantial contribution to Ms Banerjee’s rise to power.
Taking potshots at TMC’s Maa, Maati Maanush slogan, Mrs Gandhi said: “A woman is the chief minister in Bengal and still the state has witnessed the maximum number of crimes against women.”
According to Mrs Gandhi, Mr Modi had betrayed the people’s mandate in the country and Ms Banerjee in the state. “Bengal’s chief minister does not send to jail those who looted the poor (through chit fund) and Prime Minister Modi allows those who loot banks to flee abroad,” she added.
Accusing him of practising double-standards, Mrs Gandhi said when Mr Modi went on foreign trips, he warmly embraced everyone and waxed eloquent about peace and progress.
“But when he returns to India, he displays hatred for the poor, backwards and the minorities. When his ministers make virulent statements, Mr Modi observes maun vrat,” she claimed.
Besides the Congress, some CPI(M) candidates were also present on the stage. Many Left supporters holding red flags had assembled for Mrs Gandhi’s rally. Unlike her son Rahul Gandhi, the Congress president remained totally tight-lipped about Congress-Left electoral tieup.
