She alleged that the BJP government at the Centre was trying to eliminate every other political party in the country.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said she would not link her mobile number to her Aadhaar number and asked her party members to follow suit.
"I will not link my phone number to Aadhaar at any cost. They may disconnect my phone if they want to. They may not even give me an Aadhaar number if they want to. I request all of you to do the same. Let us see how many phone numbers they disconnect," she said while addressing party leaders in an extended core committee meeting on Wednesday.
She said that linking one's phone number with Aadhaar will compromise one's privacy. "I will raise the issue at the parliament. If need be, we will fight it legally. We didn't object linking Aadhaar with PAN because it was related to tax payment," she added.
She also lashed out at Centre on demonetization and said that November 8 — the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetization of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes last year — will be observed as Black Day across the state.
State BJP leaders said people will not pay heed to Mamata. "People will support Centre's pro-people policies. Mamata is saying these because she knows she is exposed and her party is on the verge of a collapse," Kailash Vijayvargiya, BJP national general secretary and in-charge of Bengal, said.
BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha said, "Anyone can say that they want a BJP-free country. She should pay attention to the condition of Bengal and see to it that she doesn't lose Bengal herself. She and her party leaders will indulge in illegal activities and wont the CBI investigate these matters?"
Interestingly, while the TMC core committee meetings have always been conducted at Mamata's Kalighat residence, to be attended by a handful top brass within the party but this one, the first one after the ouster of TMC vice-president and the once-number two in the party Mukul Roy, was attended by about 3,000 party leaders across the district.
She had stressed upon the need to strengthen the party organisation till the lowest level and hinting at Roy said that if anyone was interested in leaving, he or she could do so. "No one will be able to become a leader serving only self-interest. If one wishes to, he may leave. I will make another leader. The ones who have recently joined TMC should learn about the party from them who had been during the struggling phase of the party. We must also try and talk to those who are leaving CPIM, after being tired of the party. Those people should be to ensure that they dont join BJP. Instead they can be inducted to our party," she said.
She scoffed at the way Prime Minister Narendra Modi says 'Bhaio' and 'Mitro' and said, "When he says 'bhaio', it brings so much trouble and even worse when he says 'mitro'. His party leaders say he has a broad 'chhati' (chest) but we don't need a 'chhati'. Even Ravana had a huge 'chhati'. We need a 'chhata' (umbrella) above our heads."
She said that whoever spoke against the government were being murdered and murderers were not caught. She alleged that the BJP government at the Centre was trying to eliminate every other political party in the country. "If you think with your muscle power, money power and agency power to break the TMC, let me tell you we are not that weak. It is a game involving thousands of crores to finish all political parties and to keep only the 'dangabaaz' (war-monger) party. Like a 'zamindar babu' (landlords) they are going around threatening everyone of CBI notices. It is an attempt to taint the TMC and we have sworn to drive them out of the country," she said and added "We dont want to form government at the Centre but we will be a deciding force in who will be at the Centre."
Opposition
- Mamata said linking Aadhaar with phone number may compromise one’s privacy.
- She also said that meetings and rallies will be held in the state on November 8 to mark the day as Black Day.
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 "Mamata Banerjee —PTI")
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