West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee addressing during a programme organised on Trinamool Chhatra Parishad foundation day in Kolkata yesterday.
IANS/Kolkata
Slamming the Left Front over a “violent” peasants rally, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee yesterday said the Marxists won’t come to power in the state for 1,000 years.
A day after the Left rally turned violent, leaving many people including policeman injured, Banerjee accused the Front led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) of political bankruptcy.
“Those who have been rejected by people, those who follow archaic politics are trying to create tension... Is this what comrades call politics?” she told a gathering on the foundation day of the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad - her party’s student wing.
“The CPI-M is politically bankrupt, its ideology is bricks, guns and killing. Forget 2016, the CPI-M will not come back to power even in 3016. They have been rejected by people everywhere,” said Banerjee.
She blamed the Left for fomenting tension and questioned their way of doing politics. “Those rejected by the people, those who follow archaic politics are trying to create tension. Four people and 40 bricks... is this what comrades call politics,” she asked.
“It is the responsibility of the student community to ensure that hellish rampage like yesterday (Thursday) is not repeated,” Banerjee said in her address to members of the Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad on its foundation day.
Police claimed 25-30 of their personnel sustained injuries due to brickbats thrown by the protesters on Thursday.
The CPI-M politburo, on the other hand, claimed 200 leaders and workers were injured when they were “brutally assaulted” by the police.
Leader of the Opposition and CPI-M state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra and Left Front chairman and veteran Marxist leader Biman Bose were caught in the melee and claimed they were hit by bricks as agitators and police engaged in pitched battles.
Slamming the erstwhile Left government for taking Bengal to the brink of destruction, Banerjee accused the CPI-M, Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of forging a tacit understanding to create trouble.
“Calling shutdowns at the drop of a hat has become the hobby of the opposition. Protests do not mean ‘goondaism’. We too protested when we were in the opposition but never resorted to violence,” she said.
Banerjee also charged the Congress with politicising the lynching of a college student in West Midnapore district during a clash between two groups.
“Every death is unfortunate and sad. We should not politicise them. Some people are using tragic incidents to defame the Trinamool,” she said, referring to the killing of Krishna Prasad Jana on August 8.
The Congress has been up in arms over Jana’s killing, alleging the administration was trying to cover it up. The party has asked the Calcutta High Court to order a CBI probe into the killing.
