In Malda, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee trains guns on Congress

KOLKATA/SUJAPUR: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee res-erved her sharpest criticism for Congress so far this campaign season at her back-to-back meetings in Malda, the backyard of late Congress stalwart ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury.
"Remember, Congress can never win in Bengal. They are contesting here just to cut our votes. The more votes you give to Congress, the stronger BJP gets in this place.If you want to stop BJP, then don't vote for Congress but vote for us," Banerjee said on Sunday at a campaign stop in Sujapur, 25km from the residence of Khan Choudhury, the former railway minister, who represented the undivided Malda LS constituency eight straight times and whose brother - Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury - won Malda (South) on a Congress ticket in 2019.
This time Abu Hasem's son, Isha Khan Choudhury, is contesting from the seat. He was the last Congress MLA from Sujapur assembly constituency between 2016 and 2021 till Muhammad Abdul Ghani, a retired Calcutta HC judge, claimed it from him in a landslide win for TMC in 2021. But his lengthy stay in Kolkata and long absence from the constituency has created problems for TMC.
"I seek apologies from you as we had made a mistake," Banerjee said. "You blessed Ghani with a landslide victory in the assembly and I made him chairman of the Waqf Board to honour his representation from Malda. But now, I have decided to look after Sujapur myself."
Congress, Banerjee said, had made a seat-sharing agreement with CPM in Bengal. "Do you want us to bow down again before CPM? Bengal doesn't surrender to anyone. As long as Barkatda (ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury) was here, voting for Congress still made sense as we used to honour him a lot. But now vote only for us as in Bengal, TMC is fighting directly with BJP," she added, while holding up the arm of TMC candidate Shahnawaz Ali Raihan.
CM Mamata Banerjee, tying up her criticism of Congress with an all-out attempt to prevent any splintering of the minority vote between Congress and Trinamool, also focused on her relentless efforts to protect secularism in the country. “Till the day I am alive, I will not allow separatist forces to create division between us on the grounds of religion and caste. To me, there is no difference between Sati, Sabitri, Arundhati and Jahanara, Roshanara and Noorjahan. I don’t differentiate between Tudu, Soren and Hansda.
To me, Matuas and Rajbangshis are all equal,” she saidin Sujapur. Later, in the middle of her second speech in Habibpur, about 3km from the Bangladesh border, Banerjee trained guns at the “nexus” between Congress and CPM, highlighting how it had facilitated BJP, and that the current BJP MP had switched sides from CPM. “There are many Adivasi brothers and sisters in Habibpur.
Don’t trust BJP. Their job is to pit tribals against tribes and tribals against Hindus and Muslims. You have trusted BJP in panchayat and Lok Sabha elections here. But you have seen what they have done. So I ask you to rethink and vote for us this time,” she said. Banerjee again brought up the interlinked issues of the dangers of voting for Congress and splitting the minority and tribal vote.
“Don’t waste your vote by choosing Congress or CPM. Don’t let BJP win, banking upon cross-voting. The same CPM candidate, who you had driven out of Malda, is your MP from a BJP ticket and he is contesting again. I can do many things, but cannot bow down to CPM,” she said. Malda district, according to the 2011 census, has a 51% Muslim population and a combined SC-ST population of 29%.
“You have heard the PM speak from Malda last week. He wants to implement NRC and CAA. He says all of you are outsiders and infiltrators and should apply for citizenship. If he says so, I say he is also an infiltrator PM and I am also an infiltrator CM. No one needs to apply for citizenship. You have a voter card and ration card, and so you are a citizen of India,” Banerjee added.