June 23, 2023
We are united, we will fight together: Mamata Banerjee
Seventeen parties met in Patna today. Among those present were Nitish Kumar, Sitaram Yechury, Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee and many other opposition party leaders.
Highlights of Mamata Banerjee’s comments at the joint press conference:
It was especially nice to see Lalu ji in the political sphere today after a long time
We also had representation from other political parties — Rahul Gandhi ji and Mallikarjun Kharge ji from Congress, Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, Hemant Soren from Jharkhand, Dipankar Bhattacharya, Omar Abdullah,Mehbooba Mufti, D Raja, Sitaram Yechury, Uddhav Thackeray, and many other leaders
I believe any movement that starts from Patna, emerges as a Jan Andolan. Patna has a rich history of past movements, and our meeting today signals the start of an important andolan
In the past, we have had multiple meetings in Delhi, but there were no fruitful results. Hence, I had asked Nitish Kumar ji to hold the meeting here in Patna this time
Three things have been resolved at our meeting today. Firstly, we are all united, secondly, we will fight the elections unitedly, and finally, our fight shouldn’t be branded as the Opposition’s fight, but rather a fight against BJP’s dictatorship
We, too, are patriotic Indians, and our heart burns when we see Manipur burning. Our fight is against BJP’s atrocities, against their political vendetta
Today, BJP is running alternative government from Raj Bhavans. They organise State’s Foundation Day, without the consent and consultation of the State government. If we oppose them, ED and CBI are let lose against us
They have a stranglehold over the media and a battery of lawyers waiting outside courts busy filing cases against Opposition leaders, and letting investigating agencies behind them
The government doesn’t seem to be concerned about unemployment; they are not bothered about the common people, or the destruction of our economy. Dalit atrocities and violence against women are at an all-time high
The central government has halted funds for the states, they aren’t releasing money for 100 Days’ Work Scheme, for Awas Yojana and Grameen Sadak Yojana
This is a fight to save India. Let our blood flow, if the need arises, but we will protect our people. If BJP comes to power once again, we will no longer have elections in the future
We are all together, and we will fight unitedly and our next meeting will be in Shimla
