Ensuring the overwhelming majority for Trinamool Congress in the just concluded assembly polls in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee opens up before the media. She didn’t hesitate to counter the storm of sharp questions from different points of view. Soumya Sinha presents the extract from the Mamata-media interaction at her Kalighat residence
Despite many corruption charges against a section of your party-people, the voters of Bengal have blessed you again. Why? Common people have rejected the attempts made by the opposition to mislead them. They couldn’t accept the way followed by the opposition parties to malign me in the run up to the election.
Do you think that all the allegations are unfounded? In fact, it’s propaganda by a section of media. Bengal is a corruption-free state. Intelligent voters have rejected all the allegations. The game plan has been proven to be futile. Those who brought the baseless allegations against us should apologise immediately. People of Bengal can’t tolerate arrogance.
What should be the role of opposition in a democracy? There must be a Laxman Rekha in politics. The leadership should know when and where to stop. The web of lies can’t be the way to grab power. See, we do believe in peace, but so many workers and supporters of our party have been killed in the last couple of months and years. Why? Who will give the answer? Raising voice against political rivals shouldn’t hit the decency [standards]. That is unhealthy for democracy.
Did you ever imagine such a landslide victory? Why not? We always underline the need for the development of common people. We have been working sincerely for the last five years. Our party and government have trust on the work we have done. Naturally, the voters reciprocated. Now, Bengal is all set to welcome a strong, single-party government after as long as 49 years. Please don’t describe it as “Mamata Magic”; take it as People’s Magic. Allow me to convey my gratitude to the people of Bengal.
How do you feel about the role of election commission? We do believe in free and fair polls. I struggled for introducing voter identity cards with photographs to ensure this. I believe that during our regime, people have been able to at least exercise their voting rights freely. This time too, our state has experienced a peaceful election. But, in some cases I think, central forces have crossed their limits. There might be such instructions on them, but their role in some areas were not beyond doubt. In Bhowanipore, they allegedly discouraged a number of voters to go to the booth, while in Jadavpur, they reportedly motivated the voters to increase the voting rate.
Do you think that CPM-Congress alliance will give any political dividend to these two parties in the future? Not at all. If character is lost, everything is lost. If ideology is lost, everything is lost. Once I was alone, but didn’t compromise. Surprisingly, this time CPM is noticed to have compromised with their ideology, which happens to be a great blunder for them. They have already suffered a major loss in Bengal. Congress also received a major blow and certainly they will have to face hard times in national politics for their wrong stepping in Bengal. Ask the leaders of CPM what’s the actual reason behind their dubious role in West Bengal and Kerala.
What should be your party’s stand towards BJP? We have ideological differences with BJP. Therefore, we can’t support them. But, as far as the people’s interest is concerned, our views must be positive. Trinamool Congress may consider issue-based support towards BJP.
After the overwhelming success in your state, the national political scene may demand your presence. Are you mentally prepared? I love my country. I love my motherland.
After taking oath as the Chief Minister for the consecutive second term, what should be your first priority? Socio-economic development. We must fulfil our commitments first. So, let us stand firmly behind the farmers, workers and students. The young generation will surely get oxygen by our developmental activities. Industrial growth is expected to acquire a new dimension. Minority development is obviously our priority, but there will be no discrimination in view of progress among majority or minority. Besides, electoral reforms will also get a berth in our agenda.
