September 4, 2025
BJP is the country’s shame: Mamata Banerjee
The issues of migrant labourers from Bengal facing atrocities in other states for speaking in Bengali and the BJP-led Union government’s attempts at denying the right of voting to lakhs of people in Bihar, Bengal and other states by making them ineligible on flimsy excuses were taken up strongly by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in her speech in the Assembly today. The BJP legislators reacted, first by throwing paper and then by getting into unnecessary physical altercations with Trinamool representatives. These were condemned by the chief minister. She labelled the BJP as “anti-Bengal” and “vote chor, gaddi chorr”.
Here are the highlights of her speech:
They [BJP] have always said destructive things and done contempt of the House and disrupted the proceedings. I have cut short my time for the BJP MLAs to speak. They are anti-Bengali. They do not love Bengal or Bengalis. They don’t want the people to not listen to me. I have asked the ruling dispensation to remain quiet, but that has to be done both ways. You do not have to listen to us, but at least listen to the Speaker
You are throwing paper in the Assembly. This is unparliamentary, undemocratic, and illegal. They are well aware that their masks will come off if people get to hear what I have to say. Vote chor, gaddi chorr! They are the biggest thieves and torture the Bengalis. They mislead and deceive people. BJP is the country’s shame. I condemn them for committing atrocities on the Bengali language
There will come a day when the people of Bengal will no longer want to see a single BJP person here. All of them will lose. You cannot win by torturing our people. Our MLAs and MPs are attacked using BSF and CISF in the Parliament, but we will not do the same here. Remember, Bengal gave its blood during the freedom struggle. This party [BJP] was not even born then
They have no right to be in power at the Centre. It is only a few more days. I have never seen such a shameless and worthless party. When they will speak, I will tell my bench also not to allow them to speak
They torture people all across the nation and in Bengal. They practise discrimination. They do not fulfil their duties in the Assembly. They do not follow any rules and regulations. I condemn them on behalf of the House. They are doing this deliberately to suppress my voice. They were not here in the morning. They came only a few minutes before I arrived. Their names were called, but they did not speak. I requested the Speaker to allow them to speak, and right after they were done, they started creating a ruckus. This is Bengal and a Bengali’s issue. You cannot silence me
This party had no contribution in our freedom. They are the biggest thieves. They are selling off the nation. They try to stoke communalism and discrimination. They should know that Bengal had the biggest contribution in the freedom struggle. They are traitors and do not let people speak
They do not know Bengal and its history. They do not love the stalwarts of Bengal. They are an autocratic force and torture our people. In Andaman Cellular Jail, the maximum people were from Bengal followed by Punjab. Where were they during the freedom struggle? They were not even born. They were doing dalali for the Britishers. They want to make Bengal dependent again. We will not allow this
One, two, three, four….BJP shob theke boro chor! Not a single one of you can win by insulting Bengal, its people, and its language. No one will vote for you. Are you not ashamed? You are using muscle power, money, and misusing the ECI to win the elections. Are you afraid now? They are scared, that is why they are harassing the people of Bengal
You are a group of thieves, and the person who calls himself the biggest leader has changed three different parties, Congress, then some other party, then Trinamool, and now BJP. After making four changes, do not come and lecture us. It is a party full of turncoats. I will make BJP a big zero by giving a push from the people
You are anti-Bengali and your leaders are thieves. When elections are around, you start talking about CAA and NRC. It has been 5 years. In 2019, you brought the CAA saying that everyone will get citizenship. But what happened? It is the biggest corrupt party
BJP is anti-Bengal and anti-people. They are communal. They will not come to power again. And the one who is talking big is a turncoat. By listening to him, you are going in the wrong direction. Even if my throat is cut, I will speak in Bengali. I respect other languages too, but you are trying to disrespect and defame Bengal and Bengali. I gave my time to you so that you can speak. This is democracy. But what are you doing?
Will we listen to a turncoat who switched parties four times and has neither any ethics nor policy? They have only one work, to act in an anti-Bengali manner. But we do not oppose other languages. You try to bring down Bengal. Modi and Amit Shah are the biggest thieves. BJP hatao, desh bachao! All those who were shouting today were once in Trinamool. But today, for accumulating wealth and to save themselves from clutches of the ED-CBI, they have joined BJP. The people of Bengal will avenge this democratically, unlike you who commit atrocities. We respect democracy, that is why you can still try and disrupt my speech
At times, he [PM] is falling at the feet of the US, and sometimes at the feet of Russia, China, and Israel. By doing this, he has sold away the country and its dignity. Unity and diversity, which was the motive of the freedom struggle, has been destroyed by these people. How will they run the nation? They hate people and do politics of hatred and division. They do all sorts of conspiracies
You conspired with the Britishers and divided the nation and changed India’s capital from Kolkata. Do not call ‘Modi Chor’ [referring to the BJP MLAs]. We respect him as the PM and that is why we do not call him Modi Chor. But it is you who are saying it. Let Modi ji and the BJP leaders hear this. Shame on you all. Are you not ashamed to call your PM a thief? I respect him as the PM, not for him being the head of the BJP. I will tell PM Modi to throw these people out of the party. Protect the honour of the Assembly
You do not respect our freedom fighters, shame on you. And today they are calling Bengali a foreign language. Bengali is the second-most spoken language in Asia and 5th in the world. Bengali is not a foreign language. Those who hate Bengal are anti-Bengali and anti-national
You have stalled Rs 1.95 lakh crore owed to Bengal. You do not give our funds. We said that from health insurance to life insurance, there should be exempt from GST. We were the first to say it. I am proud of my party, that today they are bound to follow what we had said. It was an anti-people decision. You imposed it, but we eliminated it. You have increased the tax burden and then entered into an understanding with 3-4 countries
We show courtesy and let them speak, but they are not allowing me to speak. In the Parliament, our MPs are not allowed to speak. This is the difference. Do not be like them [referring to the AITC MLAs]. We must be disciplined. If for that matter my mic is also turned off, I will also sit down
Actually, they have not got any political teaching. They were only taught how to saffronise everything. The way they behaved today, this is a dark day in the history of the Bengal Assembly. I allowed them to speak. If I protect their democratic right, why are they trying to take away my right to speak? They are sometimes using the agencies to silence me and also spreading misinformation. This is not fair
Bengal gave the national anthem and the national song. We feel proud when our jawans say ‘Jai Hind’. We made a replica of the Andaman Cellular Jail in Alipore. This is Bengal’s contribution. Will you make the nation forget everything just because you are in power for a few years? While one section is patiently listening about the glory of Bengal and the nation, the other section [BJP] is creating a ruckus. You are not just anti-Bengali but also anti-national
Remember, we are citizens not at your mercy. We are citizens because of our freedom fighters. Where were you back then? And now will you decide who will stay in the country and who will not? You are calling people anti-national and Bangladeshi just because they are speaking in Bengali? A person went with his son to a hotel in Noida. He was not even a migrant worker. Despite that, he was not allowed inside. Remember, it is the people who will give you an answer one day
We do not attack Modi ji, but you all do not know how to show courtesy. You do not even know the country. You do not know the sacrifices people made. You are keeping Gandhi ji’s photo below and someone else’s photo above. You can abuse me but not Bengal or its people
You do not give importance to Rabindranath Tagore. But we believe in the harmony of all religions preached by Ramakrishna Paramahansa. You have not learnt all of this. You can only create nuisance
We have brought back 24,000 migrant workers. What was their fault? Just speaking in Bengali? I will ask them to speak in Bengali even more! When you do corruption, we do not get to see any agencies. We do not want to be dependent on anyone, that is why we have started the Shramashree schemes. Under this, we will give Rs 5,000 for one year and all other schemes when our workers from Bengal come back
They have forgotten Gandhi ji. They have forgotten everything. They only care about their own days. It is because they are scared of all our freedom fighters. They think they will lose their posts if they remember these people. They do not have any other identity except the fact that they are Nathuram Godse’s party. The nation will never forgive you. No one will forgive the killers of Gandhi ji
Those who are screaming about CAA, what did they do? Did they give any citizenship to anyone? It is all because of the 2026 polls. They are saying that those who came till 2024, barring Muslims, will not face any issues. But it is you who arrested a Rajbanshi in Cooch Behar and Alipurduar! Why did you torture the Matuas in Mumbai? Why did you torture our tribal brothers and sisters?
Nowhere in law is it mentioned about citizenship. Will you give voting rights and ration cards to those who came till 2024? Nothing is mentioned clearly. This is nothing but lies and deception. They said they will give citizenship, but did not give it in 2019 or 2024. Actually, they had a meeting in Bongaon coming up and that is why this has been done now. There was no discussion in the Parliament about this. This was passed unilaterally. No Select, Standing, or Parliamentary Committees’ opinion was taken [for CAA]. Those who have come until 2024, will you even put their names in the voter list? What a shame. Will you now bank on their votes? No one will vote for you
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