January 11, 2019
Abhishek Banerjee dares Amit Shah to contest from Bangla
All India Trinamool Youth Congress National President and party’s MP Abhishek Banerjee on Friday challenged the National President of BJP, Amit Shah, to contest from any seat in Bangla. He said, he will ensure that Shah is defeated.
Addressing a public rally at Shyambazar in Kolkata as a preparatory meeting for the mega Brigade rally of the party scheduled on January 19, Banerjee said that the Brigade rally will deliver the clarion call to oust the BJP from the Centre in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Abhishek was nostalgic while addressing this rally. “In 1997, days before the formation of Trinamool Congress, a public meeting was held in this same venue. We still get goosebumps while talking about that meeting,” he said.
The youth leader said, “India is at a juncture when autocratic and dictatorial powers are at the helm of affairs of the country. They are destroying the nation. The only political party which has the gumption of standing up to them is Trinamool Congress. We cannot be cowed down by intimidation tactics. We will fight on. We will never bow our heads.”
Abhishek maintained that several national leaders like Arvind Kejriwal, Akhilesh Yadav, Stalin, Shatrughan Sinha, Farooq Abdullah and others will attend the rally to strengthen Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s political fight to show the exit door to the BJP and establish a secular government at the Centre.
Abhishek also took the opportunity to slam the BJP’s plan of Rath Yatra programme in Bengal. “In the name of Rath Yatra, they have brought a 7-star AC luxury bus from Delhi. We have heard of Rath Yatra of Shri Jagannath and Shri Krishna. But in the name of Rath, they will be riding a luxury bus. “They cannot compete with us in terms of development. We have fulfilled the promises that we made before coming to power,” he said.
He also said, “It is our resolve to uproot communal BJP from power at Centre, just like we ousted the CPI(M) from power in Bangla in 2011. We are ready to lay down our lives, but we will not bow our heads down.”
Drawing similarities between Netaji and Mamata Banerjee, he said the latter’s battle cry “Delhi Chalo” is a reminder of Subhas Bose’s slogan.
