Kolkata: The alliance Congress and Communist Party of India (Marxist) or the CPI(M) have formed in West Bengal is a conspiracy and voting for it will tantamount to voting for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson and chief minister Mamata Banerjee said at Nadia district on Sunday while addressing her first Lok Sabha campaign rally.

“I formed the INDIA alliance. I named it as well. I will look into it after the elections. But there has been no alliance in Bengal. The alliance Congress and CPI(M) have formed is a conspiracy. Voting for Congress will mean voting for BJP. Voting for CPI(M) will mean voting for BJP. We are fighting alone against all three,” Banerjee said while seeking votes for Krishnanagar candidate Mahua Moitra.

Moitra won the seat in 2019 but was expelled from the Lok Sabha in December last year in the alleged bribe-for-query case that federal agencies are probing.

Although Banerjee bracketed Congress, CPI(M) and BJP, her party’s parliament members attended the INDIA group’s rally held on Sunday at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi in protest against Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the alleged excise policy scam.

With TMC leaders present among their counterparts from the other 27 parties in the INDIA group, it was apparent that Banerjee’s attack against Congress and the Left stemmed from her plans to stop the BJP from securing anti-establishment votes in Bengal.

On March 10, when TMC fielded candidates from all 42 seats in Bengal, Banerjee announced that her party would contest against the BJP, Left and Congress.

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Reacting to Banerjee’s remarks at the rally, CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said, “TMC has fielded three candidates who are officially still in BJP and BJP has fielded several who were in TMC. The understanding between the two parties is out in the open. Voters won’t be fooled.”

Bengal Congress spokesperson Soumya Aich Roy reacted by saying,

“Her speeches are prepared by BJP’s top leadership in Delhi. You will never see Mamata Banerjee attacking BJP on crucial economic issues linked to the nation’s future,” he said.

Banerjee accused the BJP of using federal agencies against opposition leaders and selectively letting off those who were joining the saffron camp.

“If you (BJP) are so confident of winning 400 seats then why are using ED, CBI [Central Bureau of Investigation] and Income Tax (Department)? Mahua has been targeted because she raised her voice against the BJP. The home of her parents was raided as well. Those who join the BJP are put into a washing machine and the charges are dropped. Someone named Patel came out of the washing machine the other day,” Banerjee said.

It was an apparent reference to Praful Patel, who quit the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) eight months ago with several leaders and joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

On March 19, CBI filed its closure report at a Delhi court in the Indian Airlines-Air India merger case. Patel was a prime suspect since the merger was planned during his tenure as Union aviation minister.

At the rally, Banerjee made back-to-back references to Nadia’s Dalit voters and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which the Centre enforced on March 11.

Located along the Bangladesh border, Nadia district has a Hindu population of 72.15%, which is among the highest in Bengal. There are 17 assembly segments in Nadia of which 14 comprise two Lok Sabha constituencies – Krishnanagar and Ranaghat. BJP wrested Ranaghat in 2019 when it created a record by winning 18 of Bengal’s 42 seats. The party has now targeted more than 25.

A sizeable section of Nadia’s Hindu population comprises Dalits and Namasudras who entered Bengal as refugees from Bangladesh after the Partition in 1947 and the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. The Matua community is a part of the Namasudra population.

Passed by Parliament in 2019, CAA offers citizenship to Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, Christian, Parsi and Sikh refugees who entered India from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh before 2015 to escape religious persecution. Banerjee has opposed CAA saying, “It is unconstitutional to link citizenship to faith in a secular country”.

“CAA is directly linked to NRC (National Register of Citizens). CAA is the head and NRC is the leg. If you apply (for citizenship) you will be trapped under NRC. We will not let anyone become a refugee again. Your children go to schools, you have jobs,” Banerjee said on Sunday.

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From Krishnanagar, the BJP has fielded Amrita Roy, a member of the erstwhile royal family of Krishnanagar that helped the British defeat Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula in the Battle of Plassey in 1757 which marked the beginning of the British empire that lasted till Independence.

BJP is now projecting Siraj-ud-Daula, Bengal’s last independent nawab, as corrupt and a tormentor of Hindus while referring to Roy as Rajmata (queen mother). Roy joined the BJP on March 20 with no experience in politics.

Banerjee targeted the BJP for releasing the audio file of a telephonic conversation Prime Minister Narendra Modi had with Roy on March 26. During the conversation, both praised Krishnanagar’s 18th-century King Krishnachandra Roy who helped Lord Clive, the East India Company’s general in the Battle of Plassey.

Taking a jibe, Banerjee said, “I am not getting into an argument on whether Siraj-ud-Daula was good or bad. He fought against Lord Clive but his name has been dragged into politics as well. The Prime Minister named a person who was a friend of Clive and helped him defeat Siraj-ud-Daula. If this continues, I will expose some chapters from history. You won’t have a place to hide,” Banerjee said, neither naming Raja Krishnachandra Roy nor the BJP candidate.

“Someone is being called Rajmata. Who is a Rajmata in independent India? If Kings are still around, then they should stay in their palaces. Everybody is a king or a queen in (free) India,” the Bengal CM added.

According to Banerjee, during his conversation with Roy, Modi also said the Centre is seeking legal opinion on how a sum of around Rs.3000 crore that ED has attached in West Bengal in the bribe-for-job case can be returned to jobseekers who paid the money as bribe.

She said, “This is a jumla (propaganda) government. They only make false promises. Have you got the Rs.15 lakh they promised (in 2014)? Now they are saying money seized by ED will be returned. For three years the Centre has not paid a penny for 100 days of employment (under MNREGA). ILO (International Labour Organisation) says 90% of India’s educated youth are jobless. Modi’s regime has only seen unemployment. All they do is cut ribbons (inaugurations). Pray for Bengal and India. The nation is facing a bad time.”

Bengal BJP’s chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said Banerjee appeared frustrated at her very first rally.

“She seemed to be speaking out of frustration. She claims to be a poet and a painter. People expect something new from creative persons but Banerjee merely repeated what she already said a million times earlier,” said Bhattacharya.