I am not afraid, will live like a Royal Bengal Tiger: Mamata Banerjee

MURSHIDABAD/BURDWAN: Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday likened herself to a Royal Bengal Tiger, saying she is not a weak person who can be intimidated by BJP.

Addressing a rally in Baharampur, she said: “There is no reason to think I am weak, I am not a person to be afraid of anything. I am a strong person and will keep my head high as long as I live and till then I will live like a Royal Bengal Tiger.”

Banerjee chose Murshidabad — home to Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah, who lost the battle to the British after his man Mir Jafar joined the enemy camp — to hit out at Trinamool leaders who dumped the party to join BJP.

“A few naughty cows left the party to join BJP like Mir Jafar did in the Battle of Plassey. They are now making a lot of noise — hamba hamba, ramba ramba, kamba kamba, dumba dumba… There are some others too. The sooner they leave the party, the better. An empty cowshed is better than having bad cows. Good riddance. I do not sell the party for money,” Banerjee said, asserting that Trinamool will return to office.

“Those who are corrupt bow their heads to corruption. They have amassed huge wealth and are now afraid of getting caught in the cattle smuggling case or the coal scandal. How dare they throw a spanner in the works when the government is procuring paddy from poor farmers?” she said.

Taking a dig at the “BJP washing machine”, she said: “These people with muck all over are cleaning themselves up in the BJP washing machine. They have all flocked together to BJP.”

The TMC chief asked party workers to respect women to consolidate her support among rural women, many of whom are government beneficiaries. She spoke at length on “Ma, bonera (mother and sisters)” who run households, cook food for the family and also during festivals — Durga Puja and Eid — and attend to family members when they fall sick.

Banerjee harped on the women force soon after BJP president JP Nadda ticked off the state government saying that Bengal had the highest number of human trafficking and domestic violence cases. “My mothers and sisters, tell me if you can go out on the streets on your own. Do you take somebody along?” she said, adding that women in Bengal enjoy respect, freedom and peace better than BJP-ruled states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana. “Go to UP. Find out how minorities, Dalits and women are treated there. BJP is not Bengal’s own party. It is a party from Gujarat, Delhi where riots break out. Go to Tripura. People there are repenting for what they did. Mukhe bole hari hari aar sadharan manush khoon kari (Hari chants on their lips, they kill people),” Banerjee said.