'Withdraw farm laws or quit': Mamata Banerjee to Centre ahead of Bharat Bandh

"Time has come for the uprooting of the BJP government in the country. They should save themselves first. The BJP government should withdraw the illegal farm laws or they must quit," Banerjee said at a rally in the Midnapore district. 

Though the ruling Trinamool Congress over the last decade opposed any strike (bandh) in the state, Banerjee said her party will support the movement launched by the farmers across the nation on Dec 8.

Thousands of farmers, who are protesting against the farm laws for the last 12 days, have called a nationwide bandh from 11 am to 3 pm on Tuesday.

"I was, is and will be with the farmers...... I had taken a stand against any bandh after coming to power but as a party, we will support tomorrow's nationwide movement," the feisty Trinamool supremo, who had ousted the Left Front government leading farmers' movement, added.

While the central government is in no mood to repeal the laws but to hold talks, the farmers are protesting against the farm laws in the Delhi-Haryana border with their sole demand of the repeal of the laws, which was initially passed through an Ordinance by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government amid the Covid-19 pandemic earlier this year.

One of the Centre's new farm laws will now allow farmers to sell their produce to institutional buyers beyond the regulated wholesale market. 

Though the middlemen in the wholesale markets are often accused of usurping the farmers in the earlier agricultural system, the protesters, backed by several opposition parties, fear they will have little bargaining power while selling their produce to institutional buyers, running the risk of getting exploited with the gradual destabilising of the mundies. 

Though all eyes were on Banerjee as to what message she gave to her disgruntled party leaders, the Trinamool supremo spared only a few words to say, "No one can blackmail our leaders... Trinamool is now a big tree which can't be hurt by anyone."

Not only rebel Trinamool leader Suvendu Adhikari skipped the rally at his own bastion, his father Sisir Adhikari and brother Dibyendu Adhikari, both the Lok Sabha MPs, gave a miss to Banerjee's jam-packed rally.

The Trinamool supremo last week sent a strong message asking the party leaders, who are allegedly in touch with the opposition BJP, to quit.

Suvendu, who was the architect of the 2007 Nandigram land movement which led the Trinamool to oust the Left Front government, has already quit as the West Bengal Minister following his numerous "independent" rallies.

Suvendu's solo posters have also been erected in various districts of the state by his followers, fuelling speculations over his political position.