Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal chief minister, and star campaigner for Samajwadi Party and Alliance in 2022 UP assembly polls added the requisite gravity to the last phase campaign at Varanasi on Thursday. In her inimitable style and heavy Bengali laced Hindi, Mamta challenged Yogi Aditynath to dare think that victory will be his this time.
Wishing SP chief Akhilesh Yadav whom she addressed as her younger brother, Mamata thundered “Goondagardi mat karo Yogji, janta ab nahi saheygi.” She said Yogi was not a Godman and in his entire five-year tenure he did nothing for the welfare of the people. She counted Yogi’s failures one by one starting with total mismanagement during the Pandemic. She said policies like setting up Anti -Romeo squads were against the free will and freedom of our youth. She also talked of high inflation and lambasted the BJP strategy to divide people into communal lines.
Mamata told the huge gathering at the rally that they have tolerated the anti-people policies of the Yogi Government enough and it is now time to turntables and give it back to the BJP.
Mamata shared her anger with the people of being stopped by BJP protestors when she arrived in Kashi on Wednesday. She said that if they thought this would frighten her off they were mistaken. She said “Main darti nahi ladti hu ( I do not get frightened I fight back). She said as an Indian citizen she has the right to travel to any part of the country and nobody dare come in her way. Mamata said the protest by Yogi’s men only made the obvious more clear- that Yogi knows that they have lost the elections. It is their sheer desperation that was making them do all this.
Come forward to support SP alliance, says Mamata
Asking the masses to come forward to support the SP Alliance, Mamata in the crucial last phase said that when Akhilesh’s government comes to power, the West Bengal government will collaborate and together the two governments will herald in prosperity and cheer in Uttar Pradesh.
Mamata also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that at a time he should be working on getting Indians back from war-torn Ukraine, he was busy campaigning for Yogi in Uttar Pradesh.
Mamata scoffed at the government’s laxity and lack of concern in ensuring the safety of the Indian students stranded in a foreign land during the war. She said that if Russia was a friend of the PM, President Putin should have ensured that the Indians, especially our students were given a safe passage home. She said it was a shame that the Indian Embassy in Ukraine expects the students to travel to safer destinations on their own while the officers stay put in their safe zones.
Earlier after his address at the rally, Akhilesh introduced Mamata to the audience and thanked her for being part of the campaign. He said that her presence has raised the morale of the SP members. It may be added here that Mamata had in the first phase of the campaign also addressed the SP-Alliance rally. She had promised then that she would come again to address the Varanasi rally and also avail of the opportunity of paying her tributes at the Holy ghats of Benaras.
| Posted by Sameer Khan | 
