“Control your Home Minister, don’t give me advice”: Mamata Banerjee to PM Modi

Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said at a public meeting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should “control his Home Minister (Amit Shah) first”. She was referring to the way Central forces had treated her, her party leaders and workers in Nandigram on Thursday, where election was held in the second phase. Banerjee was speaking today at a public meeting in Dinhata in Cooch Behar district, where election is scheduled in the fourth phase.

She said that yesterday at Nandigram, a Central force jawan had told her “yahan se bhago” (move/run from here), adding that she responded by saying she remained quiet, else he would face people’s wrath. All these instructions, she said, was coming from the Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who was moving around with a huge contingent of police personnel, “but there’s no Central force when there is trouble and people need police to control violence”.

“Control your Home Minister first,” Banerjee said referring to the Prime Minister, and added, “I am not under your control. Don’t give me advice from where I should contest. I will win from Nandigram,” Banerjee said.  Yesterday, Modi had said that Mamata Banerjee was looking to contest from another constituency fearing defeat in Nandigram. The Trinamool Congress had ruled this out yesterday, asking PM Modi to “look for a safer seat” instead of Varanasi in 2024 as he may have a tough fight there in the coming Lok Sabha polls.

At the rally today, Banerjee asked Modi to not advice her, as “I don’t need your advice. I take people’s advice.” Banerjee said that she had no control over people’s complaints and first information reports (FIRs). “Where will Amit Shah run away after the polls? People have lodged complaints and I have no control over these complaints,” she said.

In her public meeting, Banerjee also attacked the Election Commission about the way the election dates have been scheduled. “They (the BJP) have all the infrastructure, so they (the EC) thought of scheduling the poll dates to inconvenience us. But it is impossible to keep pace with me. I was in Nandigram yesterday, and today I am in Falakata, Dinhata of north Bengal, again I will be in South 24 Parganas where the third phase of polls is scheduled,” she said, smiling.

She said that Trinamool would win 50 out of the 60 seats where election was held in the first two phases. “I will win from Nandigram too. But my win alone will not help me form the government. So please vote for Trinamool candidates across the state so we can form the government,” Banerjee said.