Mamata Banerjee urges Uttar Pradesh voters to throw BJP out

The Bengal chief Minister said a victory for Akhilesh Yadav in the state would cause the Narendra Modi government at the Centre to fall too

Mamata Banerjee with Akhilesh in Varanasi. Mamata Banerjee with Akhilesh in Varanasi. The Telegraph 

J.P. Yadav   |   TT  |  Varanasi   |   04.03.22 :  Mamata Banerjee on Thursday urged the voters of Uttar Pradesh to throw the BJP out, saying a victory for Akhilesh Yadav in the state would cause the Narendra Modi government at the Centre to fall too.

“Badal do, Yogi sarkar ko badal do (Replace, replace the Yogi Adityanath government),” the Bengal chief minister told a rally in Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency of Varanasi, where she castigated the Prime Minister as heavily as she attacked her Uttar Pradesh counterpart.

Mamata, who had arrived here on Wednesday evening after her party’s emphatic victory in the latest round of Bengal civic polls, addressed the rally with Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh and his alliance partners.

“Once Akhilesh wins, the Narendra Modi government will fall too,” she said.

Hours after Mamata’s early afternoon rally, Modi arrived in his constituency in the evening to give a final push to the BJP campaign for the last phase of the Uttar Pradesh elections, slated on March 7. He is scheduled to be in Varanasi till the campaign deadline of March 5.

Sources close to Mamata said her Uttar Pradesh visit was aimed at creating an anti-Modi mood in his constituency as part of preparations for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

“She proved in last year’s Bengal elections that Modi can be defeated, and she wants to play that card to ensure a win for Akhilesh in Uttar Pradesh, paving the way for a change of guard in Delhi in 2024,” a source said.

At the rally, Mamata used a Hindi version of a slogan she had used in the Bengal Assembly elections to ask the crowd: “Khela hoga, khela hoga (Is the game on)?”

As the crowd roared “Haan (Yes)”, she lobbed a football towards the gathering.

Mamata chided Modi for being busy campaigning in Uttar Pradesh while Indian students were facing a harrowing time in Ukraine.

“There is a war in Ukraine and Prime Minister Modi is holding rallies here. You (Modi) already knew that a war was about to take place,” she said.

“If you have such good relations with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, why didn’t you bring the Indian students back?”

Mamata also attacked the state’s saffron-robed chief minister, saying he claimed to be a “sant (saint)” but his actions had proved him a “bhogi (materialist pleasure seeker)”.

Mamata also accused the ruling dispensation of undermining women’s dignity.

She alleged that the now-defunct “anti-Romeo squad” that Adityanath had formed in the state police — ostensibly to protect women from roadside sexual harassment — was an attempt to curb women’s freedom and insult them. The squad was accused of harassing couples.

Mamata added that the “abusive protests” BJP workers had held against her in Varanasi on Wednesday were an attempt to “insult” and intimidate her.

“I’m not a coward; I’m a fighter,” she said, arguing that the BJP protests against her betrayed the party’s fear of losing Uttar Pradesh.

On Wednesday, the protesters had waved black flags and chanted “Jai Shri Ram” and “Go back, go back”.

“I don’t have a problem with (the slogan) ‘Jai Shri Ram’. But we say, ‘Jai Siya Ram’,” she said, accusing the BJP of not showing enough respect for Sita.

Mamata said the BJP workers had hurled “abuses” and attacked her car. “I stepped out of the car and told them, ‘You all are cowards’,” she said.

“Yogiji, you claim to be a saint but you are trying to insult me,” she added.

Mamata referred to last November’s killings in Lakhimpur Kheri where a car owned by Union minister Ajay Mishra Teni, and allegedly carrying his son Ashis, had run over and killed four farmers and a journalist.

“Ek dhakka aur do, BJP ko hara do (One more push, and the BJP will lose),” she chanted.

Akhilesh thanked Mamata for coming to campaign for his alliance and said her presence in Uttar Pradesh had reminded the BJP of its defeat in Bengal.

He said this election would decide the “fate” of Uttar Pradesh and the “future” of the country.

Mamata later offered puja at the Kashi Vishwanath temple. She is expected to return to Calcutta on Friday, sources said.