Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that her government is committed to ensure that people are not inconvenienced during the six-hour statewide bandh called by the left Front tomorrow.
Apprehending that the shut-down, in the first half of the day, might inconvenience traders, students and office-goers, she told reporters at the state secretariat, “we will not let that happen”.
She said the Left parties should call a midnight bandh from 12 midnight to 4 am next time, when everyone is asleep.
“I hope they can then claim their bandh is 100 per cent successful,” she said.
Ms Banerjee said the Left, which has come to “such state after holding successive bandhs in its tenure,” was resorting to dramatics and turning falsehood into truth.
“Have we forgotten what torture the CPI(M) harmads (goons) had heaped on people in the past?,” she said.
Banerjee accused the CPIM of colluding with the BJP who “profess communal politics and pursue the game of falsehood and untruth.”
“Sorry to say, I had respect for many Communists. But not for the present group of CPIM leaders,” she said.
Referring to a rally taken out by journalists in protest against alleged attacks on mediapersons during filing of nomination papers, Ms Banerjee said the government always stands by journalists whenever they are in trouble.
She said, when several mediapersons had lost jobs there was no such rally “But we stood by the journalists”.
Earlier, TMC Secretary General Partha Chatterjee said that the Left Front’s bandh would be a failure.
“We will not allow it to succeed. Office, schools, colleges, shops and all other establishments will remain open, transport will ply smoothly and normal life will not be paralysed,” he said.
Describing the call for bandh as “politically motivated”, Chatterjee said that the Left is keen on bringing back the “Politics of Bandh” to stall the development process initiated by Mamata Banerjee government.
“People will not respond to their call, as the leftists are totally isolated from the people,” he added.
