If Akhilesh's alliance wins UP, Modi govt can be toppled in 2024: Mamata

Campaigning for the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said if Akhilesh Yadav's alliance wins the state elections, then the Narendra Modi government can also be toppled in 2024.

The Trinamool Congress supremo, who described herself as a "fighter", also alleged she was attacked by BJP workers on Wednesday after she arrived for campaigning in Varanasi, PM Modi's parliamentary constituency, in support of the SP.

"I was coming from the airport yesterday and going to the (Dashashwamedh) ghat. Midway, some BJP workers, who have nothing in their brain except violence, stopped my vehicle. They hit my car, pushed me and told me to go back," Banerjee claimed.

 

"It was then that I thought, they are going out (of power). They are completely gone, their defeat is imminent," the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief said.

Banerjee said she was in Uttar Pradesh for a political meeting and wondered why the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was so bothered about it.

"I am not a coward, I am a fighter. I have fought for a long time. The CPM attacked me in the past, I was attacked with sticks and shots were fired at me several times in the past. But I never bowed down," she added.

Banerjee said when "abuses were being hurled" at her on Wednesday, she got down from the car and stood silent for some time to see what the attackers could do.

"I wanted to see what you can do. How much strength you have. But you are a coward. I saw it and thanked them. They attacked my car, pushed me. I said thank you because I knew the message is clear that the BJP is losing, why else attack me," she claimed.

Banerjee claimed that the alliance led by Yadav is set for win in the Uttar Pradesh polls and whole country was against the BJP.

"I have information that Akhilesh Yadav and his alliance is winning," she said, and called on the people to change and topple the Yogi Adityanath government.

"We also have the courage to fight. BJP, you can see the whole country is against you. All youth, mothers and sisters of country are against you."

"If you can make the alliance of Akhilesh win, then in 2024 the Narendra Modi government will not be there," she said.

"We also love the country, we all sing songs in praise of the country. We bow down to the country, to Varanasi, India," Banerjee said, breaking into a couplet "Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab humare dil mein hai, dekhna hai zor kitna baazu-e-qaatil me hai".

Banerjee said if her coming to Uttar Pradesh once can ensure BJP's defeat, she would come to the state a thousand times.

"It's not so easy, Khela hoga," Banerjee said, referring to the Hindi variation of the Bangla phrase which was the poll anthem of the TMC in West Bengal elections last year in which it defeated the BJP.

She also slammed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath over the attack on her, and said he was "insulting" the seer community.

"Don't do this hooliganism with me Yogi ji. You show yourself to be a big seer but what is a seer? A seer is someone who commands respect. You are not a seer you are insulting the seers," she said.

"If you (people) want to ensure victory of Akhilesh and the alliance, I say 'Ek Dhakka Aur Do'," Banerjee said.

Hitting out at BJP workers who protested her coming to Uttar Pradesh, Banerjee said why can't she come to the state and its cities like Varanasi, Ayodhya, Allahabad, Mathura, Lakhimpur Kheri and also visit the Kumbh Mela.

"So many people from UP visit Ganga Sagar. So many from UP live in our Bengal. Ask them, how good they all are. You are here mocking me," the West Bengal chief minister said.

She also slammed the Uttar Pradesh government over the Lakhimpur Kheri violence of October 3 last year in which eight people, including four farmers, were killed and son of Union Minister Ajay Mishra is a key accused.

"There was a farmers' movement in Lakhimpur. You mowed them down under a vehicle. I have been involved in farmers movement but here a minister's son killed the farmers but what did you do? What action did you take? Don't the farmers have any respect," Banerjee said.

She hit out at the BJP government over forming the anti-Romeo squad, saying the groups unnecessarily harass young boys and girls.

Banerjee accused the BJP of committing "many sins" and said the party talks about temples, Hindu-Muslim during elections.

"I have no objection to Jai Siya Ram slogan. But what you do is that you do not mention Sita Mata, and say Jai Shri Ram. It's not Jai Shri Ram, it's Jai Siya Ram. I don't need to be lectured on this as I worship Durga ji and Lord Ram also worshipped her," the TMC supremo said.

She also chanted shlokas in praise of Goddess Durga and said she goes to temples, mosques, gurudwaras, church and observed festivals across faiths.

"That is how we become full Indian," she remarked.

Banerjee accused the BJP of selling country's assets and properties in the name of ushering in "achche din".

She said she respects cow but in the name of saving the bovine, the government has caused trouble to the poor and farmers.

She also slammed the BJP over handling of the pandemic, recalling how bodies were found abandoned in the Ganga.

"It was the West Bengal government which did the funeral with full respect of the bodies that were abandoned during the pandemic in UP," she claimed.

Banerjee called on the people to vote for SP-led alliance to oust the BJP from power, saying "Yogi is Yogi only of name, he is a bhogi."

On the employment issues, she questioned why the youth of Uttar Pradesh were migrating to other states for work.

She said her government in West Bengal has launched several public welfare schemes but "nothing has happened in Uttar Pradesh" under the BJP government.