We are ready to die, but would never let the country be sold to the BJP: Mamata Banerjee

On the occasion of the Foundation Day of Trinamool Chhatra Parishad, Trinamool Congress Chairperson Mamata Banerjee addressed the youth at a virtual rally from Kalighat.

 

Highlights of her speech

Students are the future of the country. Delhi can’t counter us politically, that why they throw the agencies at us.

Our challenges have increased after coming to power. Trinamool can’t be stopped in its tracks by using agencies.

Student Credit Card, with loan of Rs 10 lakh against each, which can be repaid in 40 years; nine lakh smartphones for students; 40 new universities; 30,000 students recruited; more than nine crore cycles under Sabooj Sathi, with more to come;

Government employees are being given the sack in Tripura, yet so many promises were made before the elections.

Many teachers recruited in Bengal; many to be recruited at the Deocha Pachami mines; deep sea port being built in Tajpur; industrial estate at Jangalsundari in Raghunathpur; lakhs of people to get employment in the future; IT to be a big source of employment, including at data centres, already 2.10 lakh employed; new leather complex at Bantala; 68 industrial parks, Biswa Bangla Hubs have come up

Unemployment here much less than many states; it has reduced by 45 per cent.

More than six lakh unemployed youth provided training through Utkarsh Bangla Scheme, many among whom have got employment as well; training also being provided for recruitment as IAS, IPS, WBCS officers

Daughters are self-reliant today, no longer a burden on their parents. Kanyashree is our pride.

Stress should  be given on creating political awareness amongst the youth on a large scale. Teachers are our pride.

The BJP is stifling students’ voices.

Bengal will show the way. TMCP will play a big role at the national level. I would ask its members to create a network across the country.

The current BJP government is demonic, eveil; they don’t love the people, they just want to dominate using muscle power; they want to sell off the whole country.

Insurance, coal, railways are being sold off. Next they might just ask the people to sell their body parts. It is the duty of students to protest against all these.

Why should they catch only Trinamool for illegally selling coal? Coal is part of the Union government’s responsibilities. I can name at least a dozen minister who have looted Asansol. During elections, they used to board at hotels run by owners of coal-related businesses.

Many BJP leaders and ministers are involved in women’s trafficking; I have not uttered anything against them.

Let the ED send it’s notices; I would reply by sending sacks of documents as proof of our innocence

I have never seen such politics of vengeance. We don’t do such a kind of politics. I would ask the BJP: What measures have you taken against your members involved in wrongdoing? Have you sent the Human Rights Commission to Hathras in UP?

We don’t mind being investigated by the CBI. But why would they go visit villages taking a BJP leader along?

Is the Human Rights Commission only for Bengal? Why not Tripura? Our workers are being beaten up daily there.

All such commissions have been politicised. All members are part of the BJP

If they can, let them fight Abhishek politically.

I want to know, from where does PM-CARES gets its funds?

They only know how to tell lies. Thta’s why I’m appealing to everyone to get united and prepare for the big fight.

The CPI(M) and the BJP both have tried to murder us. Attempt was made on me in Nandigram.

Why are the soldiers being withdrawn from Afghanistan without evacuating all its citizens who need evecuation?

I’ve never seen such divisions among soldiers.

All election-related expenses the states have to bear.

If we say anything, we are being labelled as anti-nationals. Can the sacred land of the country ever be sold?

Break down the walls that are trying to crush your dreams: Didi to students

Trinamool Congress Chairperson Mamata Banerjee today addressed students at Dharmatala in Kolkata on the occasion of the foundation day of Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP), the students’ wing of Trinamool Congress.

She gave a rousing speech, asking the students to break down all the walls that are trying to crush your dreams. She asked them to never bow their head to the atrocities and fear tactics of the BJP.

Mamata Banerjee also announced a two-day-long interactive session with students leaders of the TMCP from across all the districts on November 14 and 15. Through the interactive sessions, she said, she would select the next level leadership of the party.

Highlights of her speech:

Bangla is the land of the strong, the land of culture,the land of history. Bangla will show the way to the future

We never bow our heads in defeat, we never give up

Some people are trying to scare us, people who are new in the political field. They don’t know what fighting political fights really means. It is we who have fought our way to reach where we are today

Trinamool Congress has achieved what it has after a lot of struggle

The BJP has bought off the country. On the one hand, they have taken over all the media channels, all the newspapers. That’s why there is only the BJP’s news that you read about and only their leaders that you see

And on the other hand, they are continuously sending advisories to us. The word ‘advisory’ has become their favourite word

People in the country cannot speak up anymore. The duty of students is to speak up, to protest against the wrongs

Partha Chatterjee will tell you when the student union elections will be held

The BJP is using religion to create an atmosphere of fear and hate in the country

Look at the country’s state of economy. The government has brought together a group of retired people – bureaucrats and others – and it is they who have advised the RBI to give away its emergency reserves to the Centre. This is deplorable

Also look at Kashmir. They have shut off the media. They have shut everybody off using the power of the gun

The CPI(M) had come out on the streets of Kolkata once protesting against the war in Vietnam, shouting the slogan, ‘Amar naam tomar naam Vietnam’. And now they have come together with the BJP. They are scared of the BJP

The BJP is scaring our ministers, other ex-ministers and politicians using Central agencies

They are asking the Election Commission (EC) to send letters to political parties saying there is discrepancy in the latter’s accounts

The country is moving towards a presidential form of government – one election, one party, one emergency. There is an emergency situation

Our freedom fighters fought against British for their atrocities. Now the time has come to fight once again.

The BJP is indulging in horse trading; they are buying off politicians

The BJP is after Bangla because we are putting up resistance against them. I am ready to go to jail but will not give in to the BJP’s demands

There is a tough fight going on, and more is to come. I exhort you all, the students, to fight for two more years, and then Bangla will fight for you for the next 50 years

Regarding Kashmir, we never said that you cannot take a decision, but should have taken it after consultation with everybody. You have forced the decision on Kashmir on everyone.

You learnt about Goddess Durga from us, and now you are using the issue of worshipping Durga against us. We worship all gods and goddesses. You worship the evil Ravana

You try to decide who will eat what and who will wear what

IAS officers are leaving their jobs because of the way the BJP is running the country

After independence, Mahatma Gandhi sat in protest in Beleghata. Vidyasagar, who fought for the remarriage of widows and who wrote books to teach us our language, was from Bangla

This year is Mahatma Gandhi’150th birth anniversary, Vidyasagar’s 200th birth anniversary and the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre’s 100th anniversary

I will request Partha Chatterjee to organise celebrations of these anniversaries in colleges across the State

We should never forget history. The BJP is trying to change history

Our forebears fought for freedom. The people who ultimately went on to form the BJP and who influenced many to join the latter, on the other hand, supported the British, and not the freedom fighters

On Nov 14 and 15, we will organise interactive sessions with all the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad units from all colleges and universities, interactive sessions with college and university teachers too

Student leaders of the future will come out of those sessions. I will select people who have the potential to stand up strongly to the BJP. I will create the next level of leadership from among those students across the districts

I want people who will wholeheartedly work with me. I want a list of such people, and I will work with them

The leadership I will create will scare the BJP, with their evil intentions, to keep away from Bangla for the next 50 years

From 12 universities in 2011 we have set up 38 universities. We have set up 50 colleges. We give scholarships to all female students through the Kanyashree Scheme and to everyone else through the Swami Vivekananda Merit-cum-Means Scholarship Scheme. Through the Sikshashree Scheme, we give scholarships to students belonging to SC and ST communities

Unemployment in the country is at a 45-year high, while we in Bangla have decreased unemployment by 40 per cent

We still give pension to State Government employees, something which others have stopped giving; and this despite the huge debt we have

For the last 13 days, we are leading a hunger strike against the Centre’s decision to divest from 42 PSUs, which will lead to large-scale employment. I request all of you to go meet the protesters after this rally gets over to give them encouragement and the strength to carry on with their struggle

We are beside all workers of all PSUs, here and elsewhere

The BJP Government does not even want us to change the name of our State. They can’t tolerate even the name of our State. Actually they can’t tolerate our intelligence, our ability to stand up against their atrocities

They are trying to crush our bones, crush our strengths. But they won’t succeed

This is political vendetta. The BJP is demanding cut money in exchange for giving houses through their schemes

You are concerned about the prices of diamonds, and not potatoes because you are not concerned about the poor of the country,

Where did you get so much money that you spent during the general elections?

The Centre spent so much money on the election yet is not able to give rations for the poor

I will create a core group for organising the November 14 and 15 interactions..

You should be proud of Bangla. Always remember, this is the land of your dreams, the land of your purposes

Break down all the walls that are trying to crush your dreams. Sing the song of life, sing the song of victory