New Delhi: The Congress party on Tuesday backed Mamata Banerjee’s sit-in protest over alleged attacks on Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers and the eviction of hawkers from railway land, calling it a constitutional right. The BJP, however, claimed the protest would not influence voters in West Bengal, who have turned “resentful” against the TMC.
Speaking to IANS, Congress MP Pramod Tiwari said: “In a democracy, if there is injustice anywhere, the Constitution of India gives the right to hold peaceful protests against it and Mamata Banerjee is doing the same.”
“Everyone has seen that Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee was brutally attacked. He is the official number two leader of the party and is an MP. If he is not safe under the BJP government, then I would say this is a well-planned attack by the BJP against him,” he alleged.
Referring to the attack on another Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee, Tiwari said: “He is a senior leader of the party but his head got injured in the attack.”
“Dozens of Trinamool Congress offices were vandalised and set on fire,” he added.
The Congress MP further said: “Such things had not taken place so far in independent India. This is the authoritarian face of the Bharatiya Janata Party.”
He urged all opposition parties to come together and protest against the alleged “goondaism” of the BJP.
BJP MP Praveen Khandelwal said that former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has “lost her peace of mind” after the defeat of the Trinamool Congress in the West Bengal Assembly polls.
“She is disheartened, upset, and disappointed. Trinamool members, whether it is MP Kalyan Banerjee or MP Abhishek Banerjee, are engaged in political drama. The protest that Mamata Banerjee plans to stage today will have no impact. She should focus on managing her own party,” he told IANS.
“The public is demanding answers from the Trinamool Congress for their misgovernance in the state,” he added.
Echoing similar view, BJP leader Locket Chatterjee said: “The situation has changed dramatically within a month. Mamata Banerjee never imagined that the difficulties she created for the people would return in the form of public resentment to the party so quickly. Today, she is leading a protest. Had her party worked for the people all these years, this situation may not have arisen.”
“Trinamool Congress party is finished after their defeat (in the Assembly polls); they don’t have much cadres left now,” she claimed.
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–IANS
