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    Modi government wants 'surveillance state', says Mamata Banerjee, calls for opposition unity

    Synopsis

    “Prashant Kishor’s phone is tapped and I talk to him, so my conversation also gets recorded. I cannot talk to anyone as my phone is also tapped. The BJP has completely bulldozed the federal structure,” Mamata said.

    Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee addresses at a press confere...PTI
    In a symbolic protest, she claimed that she had “plastered the camera” to protect herself from Pegasus alleged snooping.
    Urging Opposition leaders to join hands, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee called for a United Front, a joint platform of all Opposition parties, ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and urged the Opposition to come together, setting aside any self-interest.

    Banerjee asked the Opposition leaders to organise a meeting in Delhi next week. “I will be in Delhi next week. I hope Sharad Pawarji can arrange for a meeting of the Opposition. We have to start our planning for 2024 with just two and a half years left for the Lok Sabha polls,” she said.

    Pegasus spyware leaks have created a furore in the national political circles. “Pegasus is a bigger scandal than Watergate,” Banerjee claimed and urged NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Congress leader P Chidambaram to take up the Pegasus issue and organise political movements in the country.

    She said “the BJP has bulldozed the democratic structure of the country and hit the main pillars of democracy –– election, media and judiciary –– through Pegasus. Forgetting self-interest, we must come together and save the country and people.”

    “Prashant Kishor’s phone has been tapped and I speak to him, so my conversation also gets recorded. My phone is also tapped. I cannot talk to anyone,” Mamata said while speaking at the Martyrs’ Day programme in Kolkata.

    Showing her mobile phone, Banerjee showed how she had covered the phone camera with tape. Through this symbolic gesture, she claimed that she “plastered the camera” to protect it from the Pegasus spyware.

    She urged Supreme Court judges to take suo motu cognisance of the phone-tapping issue. “My humble request to SC is that they can take suo motu cognisance of the phones being tapped or form a SIT to probe the matter,” she appealed.

    Banerjee held a rally virtually on Wednesday, which was telecast through giant screens in various parts of the country, including Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, New Delhi and Tripura.

    Several leaders of the Opposition were invited to watch Banerjee’s address in New Delhi. Congress leaders P Chidambaram and Digvijay Singh, NCP’s Sharad Pawar and Supriya Sule, Samajwadi Party’s Ramgopal Yadav, AAP’s Sanjay Singh and Sharad Yadav attended the July 21 programme at the Constitution Club in New Delhi.

    In a significant and largely symbolic show of reaching out to people, a few Trinamool Congress workers got together to watch the live streaming of Mamata Banerjee’s speech in Isanpur in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

    Hoardings announcing the event was put up in the city without mentioning the venue on Tuesday evening, which were later taken down.

    Speaking to ET, Jitendar Khadayta, who was appointed as TMC Gujarat convener on Wednesday morning, was asked by the party high command to organise such viewing across all the districts in the state, wherever possible. “However, we were advised to ensure absolute adherence to Covid 19 protocol and zero inconvenience to people,” Khadyata told ET.

    “I am yet to get reports from the other districts as to where all such events were organised,” he added.

    Banerjee’s postering, however, drew less than a warm reaction from the BJP. “One cannot fault anyone for being ambitious, least of all Didi,” said Yamal Vyas, spokesperson of Gujarat BJP. “However, if at all she wants to look at Gujarat, she must realise that the voters here for decades have been used to the politics of real development and peace, something that no one in the country will associate with her party or her brand of politics,” he added.

    In Tripura, Trinamool Congress was obstructed by the BJP to set up giant screens and did not allow the people to listen to the virtual address, Mamata Banerjee claimed.

    Slamming the Centre for its Covid mismanagement during the second wave, she blamed the Modi-led government for its “monumental failure” during the pandemic and death of four lakh people.

    “The prime minister came to Bengal during the polls instead of managing Covid. Bodies were floating in Ganga and the PM praised the Uttar Pradesh government for its Covid handling. Bihar and Bengal governments picked up the bodies and arranged the cremation,” she alleged.

    India needs a pro-people governance, a place safe for women, children, Dalits and every section of society, she emphasised and touched upon issues like lack of employment, predicament of migrant workers and skyrocketing fuel prices.


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    ( Originally published on Jul 21, 2021 )
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