BJP using investigative agencies to harass political leaders: Mamata Banerjee

Addressing a gathering on the foundation day of the TMCP (the students' wing of TMC) in downtown Kolkata, where the BJP had held a rally on Aug 11, Mamata launched an unsparing attack against the saffron party with few months to go for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Accusing the saffron outfit, Mamata said: "BJP is using the central agencies to disturb me, N Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh CM), Mayawati (Bahujan Samaj Party supremo),  MK Stalin (DMK chief), Lalu Prasad (Rashtriya Janata Dal chief) to win the 2019 General Elections."

"BJP will lose in 2019. People from the agencies who are harassing us by listening to the BJP will be remembered. We will not spare anyone," she added.

Bringing back the Sarada scam issue, which unnerved the TMC government between 2014 and 2016, Mamata reminded party men and followers that her outfit is not involved in such scandals.

"TMC doesn't need money from chit funds to do politics," the Chief Minister said.

Image: twitter.com/AITCofficial

TMC leader Madan Mitra was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2014 in connection to Sarada scam. Mitra was then a state minister.

Sudip Bandyopadhyay, who is a TMC Lok Sabha MP, was arrested by the CBI after he was accused in Rose Valley scam. Later, he was granted a conditional bail.

Sending out a message to all BJP leaders who said the saffron party, if it comes to power in West Bengal, will do National Register of Citizens (NRC), Mamata said: "Let them touch here."

The TMC chief was vocal against the Assam NRC, which left out four million people. Her statement that the Assam NRC will lead to a situation of "bloodbath and civil war" in the country also had sparked a massive row.

While BJP national president Amit Shah attacked Mamata for her statement, the Congress said it does support such comments.

Mamata had also sent a delegation to Assam but they were stopped at Silchar Airport by security officials.

Throwing a question to the BJP as a whole, the TMC chief said: "Can you provide birth certificates of your parents and grandparents?"

Image: twitter.com/AITCofficial

Invoking ex-Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi, Mamata said the BJP's rule is even worse than the national emergency, which was called by the former in 1975. "Forget about emergency called by Indira Gandhi. People now have no right to speak, wear clothes according to their wish."

She has also expressed her disapproval over the change in name of Mughalsarai Junction Railway Station to Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction in Uttar Pradesh.

The name was changed in early August in presence of Amit Shah. Shah's presence had triggered controversy as he holds no portfolio in the central or Uttar Pradesh government. Shah is a Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat.

Touching upon former Prime Minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee's ash immersion programmes in several rivers of the nation, Mamata said she can't "tolerate" such activities.

In a politically surprising statement, the Chief Minister on Tuesday said the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the parent organisation of the BJP, was earlier different compared to the present time.